by 
Imagine if our common goal were to bring our best, most compassionate selves into the world every day? We could light up the world with hope. And with its companion, love. Are you in?
A little hope from a lot of people all put together is a lot of hope. It is true that there is strength in numbers. You know when you’re a little tired and you go into work? If you are surrounded with tired, and worse yet, complaining, people all day at work, you will be exhausted by the end of the day. If you are surrounded with caring and hopeful people, people who are fully present to listen and support you and problem solve whatever comes up that day at work, you will feel better by the end of the day. You see, kindness breeds kindness; hope breeds hope. We lift each other up, and a little bit of lifting by a large group of people creates a lot of hope for a better day.
One person can shift a whole room into hopefulness. It is contagious. I’ll give you another example. Birth. When a woman is giving birth, it is often a long and difficult journey. Her emotions are all over the place. It is well documented, and I know from personal experience, that encouragement and hope from another in the room makes all the difference to the birthing mother. When others are calm and undaunted, their energy embraces all in the room. It is common for birthing mothers to feel like giving up near the end. In fact, it’s a sign that labor is almost over, and the baby is almost here. Those in the room have enormous power to help the mother-to-be just by saying, “You’re doing a great job” (being hopeful).
And in these tumultuous political times, we really need to lift each other with hope and compassion, when it’s hard to remain hopeful. Optimism is a struggle. Yet, struggle with it, we must. Our success for positive change in our world lies in our combined hopes and our collective efforts. Don’t think your attitude doesn’t matter. It does. Be compassionate and hopeful again and again and again. When enough of us put forth our little lights for hope, kindness, and justice, together our glow will light up the world – and change it.
