Hope Thinking in Schools

Politicians, business leaders, educational researchers, parents, in the U. S. are complaining about our students’ poor academic achievement. Many believe the path to greater learning is increased testing and longer school days. These strategies are the antithesis (completely opposite) of real need. What students and teachers actually need is Hope.

Hope Thinking—research demonstrates improved:

▪ Attendance—students are more likely to go to school, and employees are more involved and enthusiastic at work.

▪ Sustained effort—(Willpower) sustained effort on academic and work tasks

▪ Productivity---workers are more likely to be engaged, satisfied, and creative.

▪ Health---hopeful people tolerate more pain and demonstrate healthy lifestyle practices

▪ Well-being—satisfaction with life, positive emotions, find meaning and purpose in life, and have strong support networks.

▪ Longevity—people live longer and live better

At school Hope education helps students set goals and develop strategies (waypower) while supporting the students motivation (willpower). Hope thinking creates active engagement with learning. Learning becomes real, powerful and useful. Students need opportunity for the application of memorized information. 

Goal Setting: Teacher role

▪ Encourage goals that excite students.

▪ Calibrate goals to the student’s age and specific circumstances.

▪ Discuss and encourage various goal options and help students to rank them by importance.

▪ Help students select several goals and establish alternate goals that may be needed

▪ Encourage students to think about their goals (e.g., what will you need to do to attain your goal?) 

Waypower strategies

▪ Help students develop pathways thinking tactics (strategies planning)

▪ Teach students how to set clear goal markers—waypower behaviors to reach goals

▪ Help students to break down large goals into smaller subgoals (step-by-step sequence).

▪ Encourage establishment of approach goals.

▪ Support students to team thinking—“we” goals in addition to their own “me” goals.

▪ Identify several routes to a desired goal (e.g., what would you do if you encounter a blockage?).

▪ Emphasize the importance of preparation and planning.

Willpower support

▪ Support “keep-going thinking”—without self-judgment and criticism

▪ Investigate alternate routes without negative judgment.

▪ Encourage students to learn a blockage is an opportunity to investigate another route

▪ Help students recognize that if a new skill is needed they can learn it.

▪ Remind students they can always ask for help.

Teachers and parents can encourage Hope thinking by creating environments and relationships that are ordered, consistent, and predictable. To encourage hope, the adult’s approach needs to be firm, fair, and consistent. Students should be responsible for their choices and behaviors.

Progress, positive effort and goals should be recognized and rewarded. Rewards should show appreciation for “a job well done” and need not be physical or monetary. Adults should focus students on developing a work ethic and learning, not the award, or status outcome (e.g., gold medal, or number one status).

Children and adolescents with learning problems may display behaviors that are a sign of hopelessness. Behaviors that indicate feelings of hopelessness include: anger, frustration, disruptive behavior, disrespect, lack of mental focus, gives up easily, inability to organize, day dreaming, isolation, and depression.

Under the large umbrella of “developing hope” we need to support our children’s growth. Parents can help children cultivate supportive relationships, challenge negative thinking, get regular exercise, eat a healthy, mood-boosting diet, and encourage them to ask for help when needed. These activities support Willpower and Waypower thinking and build a long-term healthy lifestyle.

 Research-based guidelines:

• Students need to identify, list and prioritize goals from large to small and in order of importance. Students create a “big picture” list, such as their academics, friends, family, sports, or career. Goals should reflect the child’s desire not the parent or school’s goals. 
• Students quickly lose interest and/or motivation (especially as they come up against obstacles) for goals that are not their own. 
• Teach students how to create specific, positive goals. (Goals should focus on accomplishing something in the future not in avoiding something now) 
• Research reveals for students with little hope, it is vital to list goals in order of importance to their focus and energy. 
•  Long-term goals should be broken down in to steps. Low hope individuals often believe goals must be accomplished immediately and all-at-once. By celebrating step-by-step successes along the way, students learn to value perseverance and motivation is supported. 
• To help students face frustration and learn to move past obstacles encourage them to visualize different paths to their goals. 
• Teach students that barriers and obstacles are not due to a lack of talent but represent an opportunity to develop new skills. 
• Share stories of success (students should read books about peers who have overcome challenges). 
• Students need to learn to enjoy working toward goals, use positive self-talk, rather than criticizing self for mistakes. Teachers should keep the process light and positive.

Hope thinking is more than a set of teaching strategies, or problem solving tactics. Hope thinking opens up the mind to the joy of being and learning. Hope and joy remove the fear of failure. When the mind is calm and at ease we learn quickly and easily because Mind, Body and Spirit are engaged.

Have you noticed how quickly adolescents learn and remember the lyrics to a song? They are engaged in the song—the body responds to the rhythms of the music; the mind says these lyrics speak to me, the singer understands me; the Spirit senses shared meaning in the moment—there is unconditional acceptance. 

Hope thinking is a core building block of wellness and a positive future. Life is always about making choices. When Hope thinking is consciously used, the application of hope helps in many practical ways. For example, choosing a career, saving money, making tough medical decisions, or leading a problem-solving group.

A person who demonstrates Hope thinking demonstrates true leadership qualities.

http://www.nasponline.org/publications/cq/40/3/building-hope.aspx

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_help_students_develop_hope#

Lopez, S. J. (2013). Making Hope Happen: Create the Future You Want for Yourself and Others. Atria Books.

Snyder, C. R. (2000). Handbook of Hope : Theory, Measures, and Applications. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Hope Creates Success

Hopeful people are able to get what they want out of life. Hope is the belief in a better future and that action can make it happen. Hope is proactive and has three distinct components: Goals, Willpower, and Waypower. 

First, clearly identify the goal for your self, accessing your mental or spiritual energy (willpower thinking). This creates a clear and compelling mental picture of the Goal. Waypower is thinking of numerous ways to achieve your goal—this action counteracts frustration and fear. Willpower is tapping into Mind and Spirit to muster the mental energy to pursue the goal. 

Hope is a positive motivational state that is based on an interactive thought process of a.) Goal identification; b.) Agency (willpower, goal-directed energy); and c.) Pathways (waypower, strategies to meet goals). Emotions follow thoughts. Thinking hopefully creates a range of emotions, such as joy, awe and excitement that energize willpower thinking.

Core Beliefs

·      The future will be better than the present.

·      I have the power to make it so.

·      There are many paths to my goals.

·      None of the paths are free of obstacles. 

Hope-related thinking is important. By constantly planning strategies to meet one’s goals, and monitoring progress the individual stays on task actively engaged in hopeful learning. Research shows that a hopeful approach to learning goals is positively related to successes from academic achievement to sports to arts to science to business. 

Often goal identification, waypower thinking and willpower energy are interactive. To move forward, trust the process and list tentative goals and be open to revision throughout the process. Hopeful people pick good goals, know how to make them happen, and spot and seek out the pathways that will move them forward.

Goals—set clear, attainable goals

·      Picking goals can be tricky

·      Pick goals that you are excited about

·      Goals should align with your strengths

·      Develop multiple strategies (waypower) to reach those goals

·      Stay motivated (willpower) to implement your strategies

·      Use cues and defaults (waypower strategies) to help implement and reach goals  

A cue is a signal, such as a word or action, used to prompt or help us remember and focus on the goal. With a default plan there is no decision to make; it’s made for you. For example, setting up an automatic transfer of money from a checking into savings account monthly to achieve a goal such as a child’s college fund.

Hope is shared, interactive and contagious within our social networks (best friends, role models and associates). We share hope by displaying hopeful attitudes, taking proactive actions, sharing our life stories, and by providing support to others. Hope empowers change. 

The power of hope expresses in the many practical areas of daily life, the spiritual and religious, as well as emotional and mental processing. Hope can create success in our relationships at work, at school, within families, and in athletic team sports. 

Hope Thinking—research demonstrates improved: 

·      Attendance—students are more likely to go to school, and employees are more involved and enthusiastic at work.

·      Sustained effort—(Willpower) sustained effort on academic and work tasks

·      Productivity---workers are more likely to be engaged, satisfied, and creative.

·      Health---hopeful people tolerate more pain and demonstrate healthy lifestyle practices

·      Well-being—satisfaction with life, positive emotions, find meaning and purpose in life, and have strong support networks.

·      Longevity—people live longer and live better

Genuine hope is choosing to act as though good things (goals) are possible and our actions (willpower and waypower) will have meaningful results. Every imagined plan, goal, or objective is a sign of Hope Thinking. Hope may not always be supported by the facts. However, rather than give in to negativity and frightening circumstances, hope thinking proactively creates alternative goals and strategies. 

Hope thinking is an effective problem solving approach in one’s personal life, relationships, group or team activity, and the work place. It is a skill that needs to be developed and practiced until it is an automatic reaction.

Begin with small acts of hope

·      Train your attention to notice what is you want (this is goal setting)

·      Respond with appreciation, express positive feelings (demonstrate willpower)

·      Notice evidence of movement toward the goal comment on it, and about it.

·      Train your attention to find genuine positives and to be honestly appreciative (this is your waypower strategy)

When you feel stuck and frustrated as if you have no purpose or focus, just pick a place to start. For example you are procrastinating about job hunting, you could, a.) go for a run (any physical activity) to energize will power; b.) make a list of activities that you enjoy and next to each activity list a job with similar characteristics this initiates goal setting; or c.) make a list of waypower strategies, ex. Identify: your character strengths, professional organizations, networking opportunities, job placement agencies.) As you stimulate creative energy in one area, other areas become energized.   

For example, you have a child, or employee that needs to take out the trash in a timely manner. Set the goal: “It is important to keep our place clean and healthy. Please take the trash out at the specified time.” Demonstrate willpower: “I really appreciate your help with this. It contributes to our success.” (repeat a supportive positive comment often) Waypower strategy: “Over the past weeks I have seen your good work on getting the trash out on time. I am pleased by your work ethic, let me know if you have any ideas to share that will make things run smoothly.”

Hope in the Workplace

Hope thinking managers develop active strategies forcreating and maintaining hope in teams. They develop waypower strategies that motivate workers when no incentives are available. Research confirms the most effective rewards of work are intrinsic; it feels good to do a good job. Hope thinking increases stress tolerance, develops resilience, and strengthens productivity.

Workplace Strategies to sustaining Hope

·      Willpower thinking

·      Discipline yourself to hopeful thinking

·      Stay focused on what is real,

·      Develop attentive listening skills—to create relationships that foster hope.

·      Identify and believe in that one good thing might happen to focus the team’s attention

·      As you train your own focus and attention, you are training employee attention.

·      Waypower strategies

·      Share stories that emphasize the ability to survive difficulties

·      Attention and focus set up opportunities for emerging waypower strategies

·      Listen  to workers until you find seeds of hope (you will be modeling the search for hope)

·      Model motivation (Hope thinking) to the team, discover what they need to be motivated

Lifestyle Changes to Foster Hope  

·      Aim for eight hours of sleep.

·      Expose yourself to a little sunlight every day—for at least 15 minutes a day

·      Exercise now… and again.  A 10-minute walk improves your mood for two hours

·      Keep stress in check.

·      Practice relaxation techniques.

·      Do something you enjoy every day—make a list of activities

·      Spend some time in nature

·      List what you like about yourself

·      Talk to friends or family face-to-face

·      Listen to music

·      Do something spontaneous

·      Don’t skip meals.

·      Minimize sugar and refined carbs.

·      Focus on complex carbohydrates

·      Boost your B vitamins.

·      Try super-foods, such as bananas (magnesium to decrease anxiety, vitamin B6 to promote alertness, tryptophan to boost feel-good serotonin levels), brown rice (serotonin, thiamine to support sociability), and spinach (magnesium, folate to reduce agitation and improve sleep).

Lopez, S. J. (2013). Making Hope Happen: Create the Future You Want for Yourself and Others. Atria Books.

Snyder, C. R. (2000). Handbook of Hope : Theory, Measures, and Applications. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

http://EzineArticles.com/2904435

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/depression_tips.htm

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/03/21/the-psychology-of-hope/

The Healing Power of Hope

 

We look at a World in chaos and we don’t see the value in being hopeful and positive. Sadly, many people have a bias against having a positive attitude. Positive individuals are stereotyped as childish, naive, and less intelligent.

In contrast negative, angry, hostile people claim to be powerful with high standards and as knowing best ‘what is right’. These frustrated individuals feel justified in acting out their anger believing life will be good once their goals are met.

Hope or Negativity—which is the power position?

Typically, people who are optimistic or happy are more successful in work, school and sports, are less depressed, have fewer physical health problems, and have better relationships with other people (Seligman, 1991; Lyubomirsky, King & Diener, 2005). This confirms hopeful thinking empowers Mind, Body, and Spirit.

Psychologists have been developing positive psychology for decades building on the work of a.) Rogers and Maslow founders of humanistic psychology; b.) Wellness and prevention programs of Albee and Cowen; c.) Bandura and others’ concepts of self-efficacy, research on gifted individuals; d.)  The broader concepts of intelligence (Gardner and Sternberg); and e.) Marie Jahoda work on wellbeing in its own right, not simply as the absence of disorder or distress. 

According to Seligman (2002), positive psychology is a scientific study of the individual’s strengths and virtues that enable her/him to thrive. Positive psychology has three central concerns: positive emotions, positive individual traits, and positive institutions. Hope is a dynamic cognitive motivational system.

A hopeful nature enhances Mind, Body, and Spirit wellness

Hope is more than optimistic thinking—it is proactive attitude and behavior. Hope thinking has three distinct components: Goals, Willpower, and Way power. First, one creates a clear and compelling mental picture of the Goal--this establishes a goal. Waypower is thinking of numerous ways to achieve your goal—this will counteract frustration and fear. Willpower is tapping into Mind and Spirit to muster the mental energy to pursue the goal.

Research has shown that the people who are able to get what they want out of life are the people who have the greatest hope. This means clearly identifying the goal for your self, accessing your mental or spiritual energy (willpower thinking), and generating various paths to your goal (waypower, or flexible thinking.)

The outcome of hope thinking is having a physical life in a good state of equilibrium. Hope is not a new concept in psychology in 1991 Charles Snyder and his colleagues came up with Hope Theory.

Research shows high hope correlates with:

• Lower levels of depression
• The ability to envision a broader range of goals
• Greater will power and energy
• Ability to generate a greater variety of routes to reach one’s goal and objectives 
• Academic achievement

The power of hope expresses in the many arenas of our daily life, the spiritual and religious, emotional and mental processing, as well as our relationships at work, within families, and in athletic team sports. Essentially hope is ethical and leads to success whether it be monetary, good health, happiness, creativity, or effective work behavior.

When workers lose hope they go through the motions and do just enough work to not get fired. Low hope workers fail to produce the quality and quantity of work they are capable of. Research indicates business goals should be concrete, measurable, realistic and challenging to encourage a hopeful work environment. An environment where workers experience success is more productive with less absenteeism and loafing.

When medical professionals’ attitudes shift into hope, communication is improved and patients’ sense of hope is enhanced. Hope creates the medical benefits of the placebo effect, or the expectations of positive outcomes. Viewing the physician as competent also contributes to incresing hope related healing effects.

Hope comes into its own when crisis looms, opening us to new creative possibilities. Hope empowers us to a mindset and strategy-set oriented to success, increasing the chances one will actually accomplish their goals. Positive psychology and Hope psychology are very beneficial in treating PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.)

I recommend reading C. R. Snyder’s book on the power of hope if you feel ineffective in your own life and somewhat depressed. In Psychology of Hope: You Can Get Here from There (2003) Snyder gives us the tools to measure hope, develop hope in ourselves, and nurture hope in our children and our relationships. He gives specific advice on how to envision goals, increase one's energy for pursuing one's objectives, and how to develop a variety of strategies to reach goals.

Emotions follow thoughts. Hope-related thinking is important. By constantly planning strategies to meet one’s goals, and monitoring progress the individual stays on task actively engaged in hopeful learning. Research shows that a hopeful approach to learning goals is positively related to successes from academic achievement to sports to arts to science to business. Hope is a positive motivational state that is based on an interactive thought process of a.) Goal identification; b.) Agency (goal-directed energy); and c.) Pathways (planning to meet goals)”.

Snyder explains how neglect, abuse, parental loss, unrealistic expectations for the child, and inconsistent parenting can erode the child's ability to envision goals, or one’s ability to develop strategies to goals. Finally, he provides practical, research-based information on how hope can be fostered in children and adults. The Psychology of Hope is a book for anyone who seeks to understand the psychological underpinning of this essential psychological virtue.

Research evidence shows high hope correlates positively with being able to cope with severe burns, arthritis, spinal cord injury, fibromyalgia, and blindness. High hope individuals remain energized during the recuperative process. Those with high hope experience less pain and tolerate pain well twice as long as those with low hope.

Characteristics of Hope Therapy:

• Obstacle thinking is grounded in reality and perception, not misunderstanding or negativity.
• Hope can be measured—it is not optimistic guesswork.
• Hope is trait, domain-specific, and state—and can be developed.
• Hope can be found in stories of struggle and success.
• Hope is evident in our daily language—positive affirmations change brain chemistry.
• Therapeutic relationships are hopeful relationships.
• Hopeful relationships can be developed in peer group and family.
• Counseling groups create hopeful bonding.
• Helpers can prevent burnout via hopeful consultation.
• Hope profiling can crystallize and build on hopeful memories.
• Reflecting on mentors and heroes can boost agency (willpower energy.)
• Hope interventions (refer to Snyder’s book) can be conducted anytime, anyplace.
• Hopeful reconnections (family/friends) help us recall hopeful pathways.
• Hope is enhanced via formal programming—(affirmations, neuro-linguistic techniques.
• Hope can be shared vicariously---interact with hopeful people.
• Hope talk can be used to share hope.
• Enhance hope by making small changes and practicing these changes.

High hope individuals remember more positive comments about events and themselves while those with lower levels of hope remember more negative comments and events. Those with high hope feel challenged by goals, while people with low hope feel demoralized by goals. High hope correlates with higher feelings of self-worth.

High hope correlates with resilience. General George W. Casey, Jr., the army chief of staff and former commander of the multinational force in Iraq, November 2008, ordered an initiative to measure resilience and teach positive psychology to create a force as fit psychologically as it is physically fit. “This $145 million initiative, under the direction of Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum, is called Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) and consists of three components: a test for psychological fitness, self-improvement courses available following the test, and “master resilience training” (MRT) for drill sergeants. These are based on PERMA: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment—the building blocks of resilience and growth.” Harvard Business Review, Martin Seligman (April 2011.)

According to Seligman, “how human beings react to extreme adversity is normally distributed. On one end are the people who fall apart into PTSD, depression, and even suicide. In the middle are most people, who at first react with symptoms of depression and anxiety but within a month or so are, by physical and psychological measures, back where they were before the trauma. That is resilience. On the other end are people who show post-traumatic growth. They, too, first experience depression and anxiety, often exhibiting full-blown PTSD, but within a year they are better off than they were before the trauma [due to resilience training]”. For those who need to enhance their resilience, Hope psychology has much to offer. Snyder’s book Psychology of Hope: can be empowering and therapeutic. However, some individuals my need face-to-face work with a therapist, or therapeutic peer group.

Research on Positive Psychology reveals:

•.               Wealth is only weakly related to happiness both within and across nations, particularly when income is above the poverty level (Diener & Diener, 1996).

•.               Activities that make people happy in small doses – such as shopping, good food and making money – do not lead to fulfillment in the long term, indicating that these have quickly diminishing returns (Myers, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000).

•.               Engaging in an experience that produces ‘flow’ is so gratifying that people are willing to do it for its own sake, rather than for what they will get out of it. The activity is its own reward. Flow is experienced when one’s skills are sufficient for a challenging activity, in the pursuit of a clear goal, with immediate feedback on progress toward the goal. In such an activity, concentration is fully engaged in the moment, self-awareness disappears, and sense of time is distorted (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).

•.               People who express gratitude on a regular basis have better physical health, optimism, progress toward goals, well-being, and help others more (Emmons & Crumpler, 2000).

•.               Trying to maximize happiness can lead to unhappiness (Schwartz et al., 2002).

•.               People who witness others perform good deeds experience an emotion called ‘elevation’ and this motivates them to perform their own good deeds (Haidt, 2000).

•.               Optimism can protect people from mental and physical illness (Taylor et al., 2000).

•.               People who are optimistic or happy have better performance in work, school and sports, are less depressed, have fewer physical health problems, and have better relationships with other people. Further, optimism can be measured and it can be learned (Seligman, 1991; Lyubomirsky, King & Diener, 2005).

•.               People who report more positive emotions in young adulthood live longer and healthier lives (Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen, 2001).

•.               Physicians experiencing positive emotion tend to make more accurate diagnoses (Isen, 1993).

•.               Healthy human development can take place under conditions of even great adversity due to a process of resilience that is common and completely ordinary (Masten, 2001).

•.               There are benefits associated with [self-revealing] writing. Individuals who write about traumatic events are physically healthier than control groups that do not. Individuals who write about the perceived benefits of traumatic events achieve the same physical health benefits as those who write only about the trauma (King & Miner, 2000). Individuals who write about their life goals and their best-imagined future achieve similar physical health benefits to those who write only about traumatic events. Further, writing about life goals is significantly less distressing than writing about trauma, and is associated with enhanced well being (King, 2001).

•.               People are unable to predict how long they will be happy or sad following an important event (Gilbert, Pinel, Wilson, Blumberg & Wheatley, 1998; Wilson, Meyers, & Gilbert, 2001). These researchers found that people typically overestimate how long they will be sad following a bad event, such as a romantic breakup, yet fail to learn from repeated experiences that their predictions are wrong.

C.R. Snyder, Psychology of Hope: You Can Get Here from There, April 1, 2003

http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/index.html

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/201112/the-will-and-ways-hope

https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/home

http://www.weber.edu/WSUImages/leadership/docs/sq/azusa/general/psychology-of-hope.pdf