It’s a hard morning in the world today, a morning that follows a series of hard mornings. I feel like we are being inundated with surplus suffering, that our world is carrying so much pain. But as much as we would like to look away, it’s not what this moment calls for.

We need to nurture hope.

Last year, Rebecca Solnit wrote this essay about the despair many of us are feeling.. .and what to do in response to that despair. She helped me understand how to respond to feeling overwhelmed by darkness, how to reclaim our agency so we can shine light into the world.

Hope is a discipline, not a feeling. Which means, like all disciplines, it can be nurtured by specific practices – telling the truth, showing up, being angry (and using that anger appropriately), courage, and using stories to restore ourselves and our communities.

Tell the truth. We don’t have pretend things are ok or try to gloss over the horror of blood on a beach after a celebration of light, in fact it’s a disservice if we do.

When we choose hope we become part of the movement that boldly looks hatred in the face and says out loud “Not this.” When we choose hope, we hold space for others so they, too, can begin to see the possibility of change.

Mary L. Brandt

Show up, don’t give up. Presence is far more powerful than most of us give it credit for. Choosing to not look away is a form of presence. So are vigils, cards written to console, protests, prayers, and quiet petitions.

First of all, hope does not mean saying this is not bad, and it does not mean saying that we can defeat it. It just means saying we will keep showing up. That we will not give up.

Rachel solnit

Be angry. Rebecca Solnit quotes Rev. Dr. Renita J Weems who reminds us that “rage is a form of prayer” because rage is not primarily about anger, it’s about the love and care that underlies that anger. Use the anger as fuel to carry out what love demands of you.  

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him,” GK Chesterson once wrote, explaining why it’s so easy to lose sight of the prime mover that is love.

Rachel solnit

“Make your mind an independent republic of hope.” This may be my favorite of these disciplines. Human beings are hard-wired for fear. We can’t change our primitive (and protective) fears…but we can choose to override them. Said a different way – We can let ourselves be “colonized” by fear (which is almost always what lies beneath hatred and anger) or we can courageously choose to be “an independent republic of hope.”

“Hope it’s not something you’re born with, it’s something you make. It’s something you decide. And then it’s something you do. You get up every morning and you make it again. The next day you put it on just like you put on your shoes.”

Barbara Kingsolver

Study the heroes. Remind yourself (and your fearful brain) that there are teachers of hope we can emulate. It’s not just about looking for masters of hope… There are heroes of hope everywhere. By all means read about the heroes of history, but don’t forget to look for small acts of heroism, too … acts of kindness or courage, signs of solidarity, courage in the face of oppression.  

We learn who we are and our place in the world by telling stories. There is none more familiar or beloved than the hero’s journey, the tale of one who bravely decides to go into the unknown. It is a universal narrative, spanning time and culture. Yet as the spiritual writer Henri Nouwen once observed, “the most personal is the most universal, the most hidden is the most public, and the most solitary is the most communal.” Hearing another person’s courageous journey, we can’t help but consider our own.

Mariann Budde

Lay up stores of love, care, trust, community and resolve. The practice of hope, of refusing to give in to despair, requires great care. There are times when the darkness feels overwhelming, times when we all need to be able to access our stores of spiritual nutrition and support. Take care of yourself, build genuine community, and keep your moral compass in good working order for the times you will really need it. Make it a practice to collect stories of love, care, trust, community, and resolve, stories you can return to when your reservoir of hope runs low.

The Universe is made of stories, not of atoms.

Muriel Rukeyser