Chai Time Ruminations

Hope has always been an integral part of human life. We have all experienced moments where we longed for a specific outcome—whether it was achieving a particular grade, getting accedpted into our dream college, securing a job, maintaining our health, or receiving a particular response from someone important to us.

This feeling of hope—wishing for positive outcomes and experiencing happiness when they occur—is universal. However, hope is often seen as an abstract concept, making it challenging to understand how to cultivate it.

Hope can be simply defined as the drive to achieve something we desire, involving a significant aspect of our thought processes.

One prominent theory on hope is Charles Snyder’s Hope Theory. Snyder defines hope as “the perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways.”

There are three key components in this definition:

1. Goal-Directed Thinking: We are hopeful because we have a goal we wish to achieve.
2. Pathways Thinking: These are the processes or steps one would take to reach the goal.
3. Agency Thinking: The thoughts and actions we engage in to motivate ourselves to pursue these pathways.

With this theory, we can see that hope involves not just wishing for a positive outcome but actively working towards it through concrete steps and self-motivation, which in itself can be a source of joy.

For example, suppose a student hopes to secure the top position in their upcoming exams. Applying Snyder’s Hope Theory, the student’s goal is to achieve first place. The pathways might include creating a daily study schedule and practicing by solving previous exam papers. Agency thinking would involve finding personal motivators, such as the sense of accomplishment or specific rewards, to stay motivated and adhere to their study plan.

In conclusion, hope is not just a passive desire or wishful thinking for positive outcomes but an active process that involves setting attainable goals, identifying pathways, and maintaining motivation. By understanding and applying these principles, we can effectively nurture hope in our lives.