In Order To Have Hope...

In order to have a genuine sense of hope we have to believe that the future holds something good and positive. “It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future.” Victor Frankl

Action Is What Leads To A New Future

*POSTED:  In order to have a genuine sense of hope we have to believe that the future holds something good and positive. “It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future.” Victor Frankl

The following question came in response to the post, above...

Question:  What happens when someone believes the future just holds more of the same?

Answer...

The idea that the future “just holds more of the same” would actually be a comfortable place for some people.  But it’s clear that that’s not the sense in which the questioner is expressing this thought.  The idea that the future just holds more of the same would, frankly, be anything but hopeful for a lot of us.

If we don’t want the future to hold more of the same, the bottom line is that we have to be willing to do different things.  I’m specifically referring to “actions.”  For the future to be different, we have to be willing to take new actions.  We have to try things we haven’t tried before.  All the clichés—like “be willing to move out of your comfort zone”—that we’ve heard before apply here.  (It’s helpful to remember that sometimes a “saying” becomes cliché because it’s true.)

So, we have to be willing to take some different actions that might feel risky to us.  (By the way, I’m not talking about doing things that are “risky” in the sense of being illegal or life threatening, but risky in the sense of being actions we haven’t taken before.)

In fact, it’s very likely that the future will, in fact, hold more of the same unless we take some new actions.

When it comes to making changes in our lives—changes that move us into a future that’s not just the same as the past—there are factors that can make a difference, factors like thinking, planning, learning new things, and making new commitments.  But at the end of the day action trumps everything else.  The actions we take will be the biggest factor in moving us toward a different future.

The True Source of Meaning In Life

“There is nothing in the world…that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one’s life.”—Victor Frankl.  Frankl survived Nazi prison camps in WWII.  He observed that those around him who survived were those who could find meaning even in those horrible conditions.  The true source of meaning in life is found in knowing God.

A Little Bit of Stress Isn't Such A Bad Thing

“I consider it a dangerous misconception…to assume that what man needs…is equilibrium or, as it is called in biology, ‘homeostasis,’ i.e., a tensionless state. What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal…”—Victor Frankl.  The ideal state is not to be totally stress-free, but rather to be pursuing God-given meaning & purpose.