Running low on hope? Had more than your share of setbacks? Come from a family of naysayers? Tend to put a negative spin on things? Suspect you were born under an unlucky star? Suffer from low self-esteem? Expect the worst?
The bad news is this: you pobably will not metamorphosize one day into a hope-filled person.
The good news is this: hope, like any other habit or addiction, is cultivatable. . . .
To grow hope, we have to take a hopeful step. We have to make ourselves act the way a hopeful person would act. We can't let it bother us that at first it doesn't feel quite right or that it's out of character or that it's not natural. Heart follows behavior. We have to make ourselves act the way we want to feel. Feelings have a way of catching up with behavior.
To grow some hope, take a hope-full step. That first step is the most difficult.
— R. Wayne Willis, Hope Notes