Hope

Isn’t the world a wonderful place? Aren’t these trees, that grass, those bushes and flowers, amazing in so many ways? Is there anything better than a baby smiling at you? Or the perpetual joy with which your dog greets you when you get home, every night?

It’s very easy to look at the world we live in today with negativity. It’s overwhelming at times, a constant barrage of awful news, or pain and suffering, of disease and decay, of natural disasters, and man-made catastrophes. In the UK the headlines serve only to inform us of the corrupt and dishonesty that our political system is built upon, in the US a white nationalist moron is President, and round the world evil and hatred are in evidence and in power.

It can be hard to retain empathy and love, to find compassion and happiness in the midst of all this darkness. But more than ever it is essential that we find a way.

In the past I’ve talked about finding moments of beauty in your day, and invariably they rely on nature; either from the natural world or from a good deed by someone. Ultimately anything that makes you smile and distracts you for a fleeting second, taking your mind away from negativity and towards happier thoughts.

It doesn’t take much, but I find myself seeking them out more and more these days, building them up in an effort to staunch the tide of darkness that seems to be sweeping the globe. I’m lucky to have a happy home, and find myself gazing at our dogs as they sleep, snoring away without a care in the world, utterly content. What a wonderful state to be in.

I’ve been slowly getting back into my meditation habits as well, which is helping no end. A 10 minute pause and reset is all it really takes to let my brain calm and for some perspective to enter. The world isn’t as bad as it seems, that’s just how the media portray it, and if you look elsewhere on social media there is kindness and care to be found in abundance.

I hope that things will change and it won’t always seem as bleak, and I hope that as I continue to take note of the love around me that my view will remain as it is today, and that love and compassion will win out over hatred.

“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

I hope.