Finding Hope in Uncertain Times: Your Secret Weapon to Thrive (Encore)

Kevin is doing as instructed, resting up his vocal cords after being sick this past week, and therefore, he asked that I step in to introduce today's episode.

Kevin will be back next week with two fresh new episodes.

But until then, he has selected one of the fan favorites from the episode catalog for your listening enjoyment.

So turn up the volume, listen close, and begin to understand how harnessing the power of hope is the secret weapon you've been looking for.

SPEAKER_01: Alright, my friend, we're gonna talk about it today.

A secret for how you and me can get through this crazy world we find ourselves living in.

Unless you're listening to this sometime far off in the future, where the world has become a beautiful place of nothing but peace, butterflies, and rainbows, you know that life is hard.

The world is crazy, and sometimes you just get a little bit worried, yet a little bit scared.

Well, today we're gonna fight back against that with one simple yet truly profound thing, and that is harnessing the power of hope.

So I encourage you to stick around because by the end of today's episode, you're gonna not only understand exactly what hope is, you're gonna be able to understand how to harness that hope.

Plus, you'll understand how you can begin to spread that hope to others while at the same time benefiting yourself.

It's a win-win situation when hope is involved.

It's all right here, right now.

It's episode 328.

SPEAKER_02: Yo, are you ready to flip the script on life?

Because those bad days, they're just doors to better days.

And that's exactly what we do here at Great Race and Inspiration.

Your host, Kevin Lowe, has been flipping the script on his own life.

Turning over 20 years of being completely blind.

It's a straight up inspiration, motivation, and encouragement just for you.

So kick back, relax, and let me introduce you to your host, Kevin Lowe.

SPEAKER_01: So I gotta tell you, today's topic has been on my mind ever since I interviewed John Boyle, our guest inside of our last episode.

That was episode 327.

He is the author of a book called Appalachian Kid, How Hope Changed Everything.

And that one simple word of hope is what stuck in my mind.

Now, if you didn't get a chance to listen to that episode to hear his remarkable story, I highly encourage you to go back and check out episode 327.

That, of course, will be linked to inside of today's show notes.

But today, of course, it's episode 328, where today it's all about the power of hope.

So I guess we might as well start with the basics, of course, and that is being sure that we're both on the same page as far as what hope is and what hope is not.

First and foremost, when I'm talking about hope, I'm not talking about crossing your fingers, wishing upon a star, and well, staying out all night trying to find a shooting star because we all know, oh, those are where the magic is.

No, we're not doing that.

I'm also not encouraging you to go to the Chinese restaurant and open up fortune cookies until you find one that sounds absolutely perfect.

You then stick it in your wallet, you carry it around with you until one day you're like, whoa, how long has this been in my wallet?

Yeah, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

That, my friend, is not the kind of hope we're talking about today.

Today, we're talking about hope in the sense of you having this honestly unshakable sense of hope that things can get better, that there is better days ahead, no matter how dark and gloomy today may seem.

Now, of course, with hope, it doesn't mean that everything is easy, no, but you have hope on your side.

You're ready to roll up your sleeves, you're ready to get to work, you're ready to do the stuff you need to do to achieve your dreams, to have better days, because you're guided in life by hope.

I want you to think of hope as your personal flashlight.

You walk into a dark room, it's pitch black, you can't see anything.

You literally can't see your hand in front of your face.

When you turn the flashlight on, it doesn't magically fix everything.

What it does do is it lights a way forward.

It shows you that you're clear to take another step forward.

Most importantly, hope, it's the courage you need to enter into that room, to keep moving forward through the blackness because you have that flashlight shining in front of you.

That, my friend, is the power of hope.

Now, of course, there's also a science behind hope as well.

Because hope, it's backed by science.

It's not just some fluffy idea that people dream about, think about, and no, it's real, it's honest, it's truth.

Numerous studies have found that hopeful people are tougher, happier, and more likely to crush their goals.

When you're feeling hopeful, your brain's like a chemical factory pumping out all the technical stuff that makes you feel good, that gets you energized, that keeps you moving forward.

Now, what's powerful is when your body's in this mode, your brain's kicking out all of these signals that has you feeling good, doing good.

They also have the power of kicking your problem-solving skills into action.

It's basically kind of like your brain's turned into your own personal coach, your own cheerleader, letting you know we got this, we can do it, just keep moving forward.

Now, of course, at this point, you say, okay, Kev, but what if I don't really have a lot of hope?

What if I've been through some stuff in my life that I just don't have hope of things getting any better?

Well, today I'm gonna give you a few super basic, super easy things that I want you to give a try, to start doing, and see if after a little bit of time, maybe you can change things.

Maybe you can start to find hope again in your life.

Because, my friend, I'm telling you, I don't care who you are, where you are in life, all of us need and deserve hope in our life.

Without hope, I don't know that there's anything worth living for.

You have to have hope in tomorrow.

You have to have hope for a better day.

And that's what I want for you.

My first out of three little tactics for you is hope thrives on you having something that you're excited about, something that you're working towards.

Not something that others want, but what you want, what truly lights you up.

You have to have that in mind.

Call it a goal, call it a dream, whatever you want to call it.

You just have to have something.

And more importantly, why don't you have a few things?

A few things that you're excited about, a few things that you want to come true.

Now, every day I want you to practice and exercise.

I want you to envision that whatever that goal is, whatever that dream is, that it's already come true.

It's kind of like a mental rehearsal for your mind.

You're already priming yourself to be there.

So it just kind of makes it all happen a little bit easier.

And by you doing this, it helps to make it feel a little bit more real each and every day.

It reminds you of what you're fighting for, what you're working towards.

And of course, it helps to give you hope in something more, something better.

Why all of this that you're doing is worth it in the end.

Now, my third little tip and trick for helping you to harness hope in your life is to celebrate the little wins.

Yes, you might have big goals and dreams, but you need to celebrate the little things.

I'm talking the little things.

All the little things, I want you to start cheering yourself on.

I want you to start boosting your spirits.

You get up in the morning, you make your bed, woo-hoo, baby, high five.

You actually decide, oh, you know what?

I'm gonna actually put on some makeup today.

I'm gonna fix my hair.

I'm gonna be looking good when I go to work today.

Well, you know what?

Another high five to you.

And maybe you decide, you know what?

I'm gonna really kick things into gear today.

And instead of driving, I'm gonna jump on the bike, I'm gonna ride the bike to work.

Not only are you giving yourself an awesome experience first thing in the morning, not only are you mixing things up, having a little fun, but making yourself a little bit healthier and ultimately happier along the way.

They're simple things, and maybe when you do them once, they don't feel like much.

Maybe when you do one without the others, you're not getting there.

But when you combine all three of these simple, fun little tactics, I promise it's gonna lead to a little extra hope in your day.

Now, we've just touched the surface of this power of hope because we're getting to one of the most powerful parts of it all.

Hope, my friend, is contagious, but well, in a good way.

Hope is something that you are going to find it creates a ripple around you.

When you start living life with hope, when you start showing up to the world as your best version of you, you're gonna be smiling more.

You're gonna be laughing a little more, you're going to have a vibe to you that people aren't used to.

And I'm here to tell you it's contagious.

You're gonna find that others around you, they start smiling a little bit more.

They're probably going to ask you, wow, what's going on with you lately?

You seem like a totally different person.

And I hope that you'll share it with them.

Oh, well, I just listened to this guy, Kevin, over on the podcast, Grit, Grace, and Inspiration, and he taught me that I really needed to harness some hope in my life.

And that's what I've been doing.

That is my ultimate goal with today's episode.

Because when we can do something for ourselves, that's awesome.

But when we can do something for ourselves, while also doing something for others, well, that's just incredible.

And going back full circle to the whole inspiration for today's podcast episode is the story of John Boyle.

If you heard his story, you will know that John had a really rough life, a rough childhood.

And yet, through the power of hope, John is where he is today.

A whole different world, a whole different person.

And the power is, is he's written a book.

He's turned his story into a novel that's creating a ripple effect around the world with every person who picks it up, every person who decides to read the pages.

His hope is spreading across the world.

And it's a really powerful, amazing thing when we're talking about the power of hope.

All right, before today's episode ends, I have a challenge for you.

It's the hope challenge.

I want to get you started off on the right foot for this whole idea of harnessing hope in your life.

So I have a fun challenge for you over the next week.

For the next week, I want you to think of yourself as a hope detective.

Yes, you are going to be looking at life from the positive angle.

Yes, the glass is indeed half full, at least for this week.

I want you to spend the next seven days looking for things to be hopeful about.

It doesn't have to be big things, it can be little things, but I want you to find hope everywhere around you.

Maybe it's a stranger who held the door for you.

It gives you hope in humanity.

Maybe it's you nailing that project you've been working on for work, giving you hope in your abilities.

Maybe it's you getting up early enough that you catch the sunrise over the ocean and you marvel at its beauty.

And well, that, of course, gives you hope in the world.

That there's something bigger at play here.

Go out at night, lay down and gaze up at the stars.

If you want to have hope that there's so much more to life than we even realize, just go outside at night and look up at the stars.

And to realize how big this world really is, and how small each of us really are, I can't help but find hope in it all.

That maybe the things that we're scared about, the things that are stressing us out about here on Earth, in the big picture of things, they're actually just little things.

And it's all gonna work out in the end.

If you do that for the next seven days, constantly looking for hope, I promise it's gonna set you on a path for success.

It's gonna set you on a path for a happier life, full of hope, of joy.

And that's what I want for you.

My friend, I hope you have enjoyed today's episode.

I hope it's made a difference in your day.

And most of all, I hope that maybe you'll take what I've said today and put it into play.

Because, like I said, I want you to have everything you want in this life.

Because I believe you deserve to have it all.

And maybe it all just starts with one simple yet truly profound word, and that is hope.

Until next time, I'm your host, Kevin Lowe, and this was another episode here on Great Grace of Inspiration.

I hope you have an amazing day, and I can't wait to see you in our next episode.