A study at the University of Missouri’s Department of Psychological Sciences involving 6 experiments and over 2300 participants concluded that hope is more important than happiness or gratitude in making life meaningful.
Happiness, for example, is often tied to what’s happening right now. A fun event, a compliment, a good day.
Gratitude reflects on what has already happened – what you’ve received or survived. But hope is forward-looking. It lives in possibility, and that’s what gives it power.
Only hope consistently predicted a stronger sense of meaning in life. This isn’t just an abstract idea. Feeling like your life has meaning has real-world effects. It’s tied to better relationships, improved physical health, higher income, and greater emotional well-being.
- from an article by Rodielon Putol, Earth.com staff writer
As discussed in The Hopeful Mindset, hopes may have various degrees of hopefulness, ranging from wishful thinking (Life will be good when I win the lottery.) to certainty about the future (The weather will be warmer when summer comes.). The degree of hopefulness of an idea depends on how justifiable the hope is. This refers to the likelihood of a hope coming true in the future. The likelihood of this happening can be estimated by the number and strength of facts and other supportive evidence indicating the chances of the hope coming true.
I propose that the more likely a hope is to come true the greater its potential to contribute to an individual’s sense of meaning and purpose in their life. I think this is true for any hope for the future that a person may have. How much more important, then, is it for a person’s overall worldview or mindset to be hopeful? I believe a hopeful mindset is a truly significant factor in a person’s sense of living a meaningful and purposeful life.
The Interdependent Mindset as presented in The Hopeful Mindset is a justifiable source of hope because it is based on the observable interdependent nature of existence. Work toward a sustainable and compassionate future undertaken with values stemming from an understanding of interdependence will be work that is in harmony with the nature of nature. Because of this such endeavours will have a high likelihood of success.
On the other hand, work undertaken under a mindset based on inaccurate ideas about the nature of existence will have little chance of succeeding since it will most likely be in opposition to the interdependent nature of world in which it is being attempted. Over time the failures of misguided attempts to build a better future could lead to a general sense of hopelessness and despair.
Hope floats. Despair sinks.
Choose hope. Learn about The Hopeful Mindset.