Have you set goals? And, when you do set goals, to you achieve them? Part of the process of personal and professional growth is to develop the means to work toward something. The end goal. What is it that you really want? More money? Success? Better relationships? To feel balanced? Whatever it is, that is your end goal. But do you know how you are going to get there?

I have often been told that I am idealistic. Guilty! I’ve always wanted results to turn out perfectly. I would take a conflict or concern at work and imagine a perfect outcome to my solution, and present my thoughts only to be told that I had high hopes that were too unrealistic. Is it so wrong to want everyone at work to get along well and be happy in their company culture?

When you think positively about your present and your future you are more productive; satisfied; compassionate; less affected by stress. You’ll hold yourself up to higher standards and are more likely to assume leadership and willing to help other people in need. Your success will be unlimited!

It is said that the fruit of hope is joy. When we get what we have hoped for, the fruitfulness of that hope is the emotion of joy. Without hope, we’ll never fully experience joy. When we are in crisis, whether it is a chronic health crisis, business or money crisis, relationship or family crisis, it is often easy to lose hope. How do you regain hope when all seems lost?

Have you set goals? And, when you do set goals, to you achieve them? Part of the process of personal and professional growth is to develop the means to work toward something. The end goal.

Have you ever hoped for something so much, but it felt as if it was taking forever to happen? When I was ill with my heart failure and subsequent treatment to cure the arrhythmia that caused it, it felt like my hope of being healthy, well and back to my life before the health crisis was never going to come!

What is it that you hope for today? Some of us hope for our business to grow so that we can afford the lifestyle we choose the live. Others hope for true romantic love and marriage. There are those who hope to have children, or to take a dream vacation, or they hope for a cure for an illness. Hope will be found, when you trust in your hope. But hope alone isn’t going to be enough if you have any doubts and don’t trust in that hope.

When we are down and out, wanting to give up, there are plenty of people that will encourage us to ‘keep the faith’, or ‘don’t give up hope’. Whatever the circumstances are, perhaps they commiserate with your situation because it happened to them too, and the results weren’t what they’d hoped for. I’ve seen this happen in relationships, health matters, financial situations and job related

crises.

There are many things that I hope for, but have learned over time and experience that hope is just that, a claim about something’s significance to us, but is oftentimes outside of our personal control. However, don’t let go of hope.

Don’t lose hope! Perfect the hope that is within you! We were born to hope. As babies, we hope our mother will feed us, as we grow, we hope for more and more.  It’s one of the first virtues that we possess. Developmental psychologist known for his theory on psychosocial development, Erik H. Erikson said, "Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive.