Zen philosophy talks about the negative side of hope...that hope is an illusion and the only thing that hope leads to is disappointment. I find this true often, but not always.
It is easy to have hopes and dreams about achieving something. These are the hopes that I am okay with. The hopes of winning the Lotto...that is an entirely different story!
Hope can become a burden at times. We tend to collect hopes, or at least those that are looking for hope around every corner. It is so easy to get our minds and lives flooded with hopes. The hopes then become overwhelming and we are left with no accomplishments...just hopes. Our hopes then become something ugly. Something to feel bad about.
Balance.
To balance hope, I am finding that the healthy hopes are temporary. If they are short-termed hopes, they do not seem to take up too much mind-space or time. For example, if I hope that my headache goes away before the students enter my room in the morning, there is a time limit to my hope. If the headache is still there as the kids are coming in screaming...no reason to hope anymore. The time period for the hope has expired.
Balance also tends to minimize the amount of hopes that I carry at a time. If they are temporary, there are only so many hopes that can happen in a given 24 hour period of time. I can have a whole new set tomorrow. I kind of like the idea that I don't have to carry the hopes with my until tomorrow. I have to tell you, it sure makes for more restful sleep.
I have heard the phrase, "Hope springs eternal" and I have to tell you...if this case, I am not a fan. Not that I am trying to look at the negative side of hope. But hope itself is positive and I am not sure if it needs a slogan to make it more so. We can follow our dreams, as long as the dreams do not become nightmares.
Peace.
Mark.
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