Hope is often this abstract, intangible thing for many people, but it’s more than meets the eye. When harnessed right, hope can fuel your passion and make you happier. Find out how in this episode.
Dr. Rodney Luster is a is a higher education administrator, entrepreneur, and healthcare practitioner. He has a private practice called Inspirethought and is the senior director of Research Strategy, Innovation, and Development for the College of Doctoral Studies and the Center for Leadership Studies and Organizational Research at the University of Phoenix.
He is also currently writing a book about fear and a research article tackling addictions and works as an active presenter and speaker.
For Dr. Rodney, happiness is the potentiality of what people can be, feel, and do, should they allow it to happen.
It’s an extension of the philosophy that happiness is a transient state of joy. Once people attain happiness, they start thinking about what more they can do with their lives and thus set on another journey. He also discussed misconceptions, such as expecting things to be perfect and expecting life to be joyful all the time.
From there, the conversation turned into the concept of hope. According to Dr. Rodney, a lack of hope translates to a lack of excitement about life’s potential and persistent sadness.
On the other hand, hope is a bit more complex. It boils down to a positive, healthy state of well-being about the future, which comes from a deep state of purposefulness.
Another element of the definition of hope is the tangibility of success. He posited that hopelessness is an amorphous state while having hope is concrete. Achieving little things, like setting out small goals and achieving them, gives people a tangible metric of success and thus gives them hope.
From here, a sense of purpose—and ultimately, happiness—can arise. Achieving happiness from hope can also be aided by “Pathways Thinking” and some techniques for actively avoiding hopelessness.
The conversation then turned to daily practices. Dr. Rodney advocates looking at what truly matters to you and structuring your day to accommodate your highest values.
Hope is not just this vague concept in people’s minds. While the definition of hope is yet complex, there are specific things you can do to cultivate hope in your daily life. This episode examined that and more to help you set out on a path of happiness.
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