I hope I get the job.  I hope it all works out for you.   I hope my proposal is accepted. I hope you are feeling better.  I hope they’ll like me.  I’m hopeful that things will turn around for us. I hope humanity will wake up and realize we are all One.  Hope. Hope. Hope.  When we use the word hope in this way, it’s a pretty wimpy form of expressing our desire or our intention, isn’t it?  It’s like passive wishing.  It has no power.  Ernest Holmes calls hope “a subtle illusion.”

And the truth is, that’s where a lot of us are with hope. In fact, when we express the idea of “hope” in this fashion we’re kind of excusing ourselves from actually doing anything to positively affect the outcome, aren’t we?  It sounds like we’re being positive and practicing positive thinking.  But we’re really not. Of course it’s better than saying, I’m sure I won’t get the job, or I’m afraid they won’t like me, or I’m not feeling good that it will work out for you. Hope is actually one step above that.  It’s not destructive. But it’s not creative either.  And remember we are creative beings, we’re creating all the time…not just with our words but with the energy behind the words.

There is another way, though, of approaching the idea of hope that can be creative.  It’s about shifting our understanding of hope and holding it as an energy that opens up possibility. If we can approach hope in this way, then hope can be a powerful key that unlocks potential for us and others.  It can be that essential shift from not seeing an answer, not seeing any possibility, to accepting a larger Truth that harmony, wellbeing and abundance are what the Universe has in fact already given us…and our hope becomes…expectation that opens a way for its realization.

In fact expectation is hope amplified.  Expectation carries a feeling of some certainty about it.  You prepare…you make way…you actively get ready to receive.

Every woman who has had a baby knows exactly what this is about.  When you are in that last trimester of pregnancy, there’s no doubt a baby is coming in a few weeks.  No doubt there will be another little life joining your family…and that that little one is going to need your round the clock attention.  You may not have realized it early on in the pregnancy. Early on, the focus was on staying healthy and maybe starting to think about what having a baby will mean for you and your partner.

But in that last trimester, you prepare.  You make the necessary adjustments in your family — arranging for maternity, or paternity leave if you are fortunate enough to have that.  You get the baby’s room painted and decorated.  You set up the crib and changing table.  You buy and install the baby seat in your car.  You’ve had your baby shower and have put away all those adorable, expensive, little outfits that your baby will either permanently soil immediately, or outgrow before he or she get a chance to wear it more than once.

So, expectation (which remember is hope amplified) leads us to take the appropriate action to prepare for its coming.  Can you say the same for the things you are hoping for?  Are you preparing just as robustly for your new job coming, or your proposal being accepted, or your health returning fully, or your perfect mate coming into your life?  Are you preparing for a world that works for everyone? In other words…heaven on earth?

If so, then you have amplified hope to the next level and are living in joyous expectation. You are open to the possibilities.  You have cleared a path for your good to make its way to you.  And one of the best ways to activate this energy of amplified hope…of ensuring a positive outcome is to cultivate a gratitude practice.

Practicing proactive gratitude helps us to see that we are already blessed, therefore we must be worthy of a fulfilling and joyous life.  We begin to accept that the universe does indeed work together for our good, and that things naturally work out for us.  Therefore, cultivating a gratitude practice is connects us with the fulfillment of the thing or experience we are hoping for.  We rest in joyful expectancy and are lead to take the appropriate action in order to help facilitate the realization of our desired good.  As co-creators, our participation is an essential part of the process.

I have amplified hope you will commit to a practice of proactive gratitude and all that you are hoping for this holiday season, and in the new year, is already coming into your life!