Hiking in Colorado provided a great perspective on two common themes in life: Hope and presence. What makes hope and presence so interesting is that both conditions seem to be necessary to our well-being, yet they have vastly different features and functions in our lives.
Hope on Pikes Peak took a couple forms. I hope we summit. I hope I get a second (third, fourth) wind. I hope we make it back to camp before the storm catches us. Hope seems to be connected to the why, the reason, the purpose of the trip in the first place.
What hope isn’t about is the present. It takes our focus away from the moment at hand. Sometimes this is a welcome distraction, and it may even be a necessary functioning for taking stock and figuring out where to direct our efforts next so that our actions are aligned with our values and ultimate goals. Hope can guide preparation, and preparation can guide action. Indeed, preparation may do more than guide action, it may even restrict action (hence the importance of preparation, which is both planning and action). But whether we are prepared or not, life is constantly throwing deal with it moments at us, and the better we deal with it, the more chance we have of ultimately realizing our hopes and dreams.
While hope can serve as a guide and inspiration for the present, when we treat hope as a summit, it is situated on the knife edge between the slippery slopes of anxiety and fear. When hoping, it’s often easy to lapse into what will happen if our hopes are not realized, and when we lose that focus, it’s easy to slide down into anxiety and fear.
As an observer of the human condition for half a century now, I’ve noticed that most people actually deal with the present moment a lot better than they handle imagined disappointments, and this is true no matter how urgent the present situation is. I was once explaining this to a patient when he suddenly shouted, “That’s so true! I once was sitting in traffic when a car caught on fire. I ran to the car and helped the person out before they were harmed. I was calm as could be. There is no way I could have imagined myself running toward a burning car yet alone being so calm, but there I was doing it!” I do not expect this is true with all emergencies or disappointments. Some are simply too profound. But the vast majority of our imagined disappointments and difficulties simply never come into existence. If we are honest, most of us can admit that we are shitty prognosticators of our own demise.
My goal here is not to disparage hope but to point to the reminder that hope doesn’t work well when we treat it as a summit. Hope isn’t a peak to be reached that will make everything right in our lives. We never simply reach a peak and rest there forever without the winds of change and time pushing us off. That isn’t reality.
Indeed, hope isn’t a summit. Hope is an anchor. And like any good anchor, it is only truly working when it is lying unseen below the surface. Anchors keep us roughly in place so that we don’t lose our progress while the winds of change and other forces push and pull upon us. Anchors allow us to deal with the challenge at hand while remaining grounded to a bigger purpose.
So cast your hope. Let it anchor you. But do not let hope become a summit from which you easily fall. Deal with the challenges at hand. Do what you can…..with what you have…..where you stand. Trust hope to keep you anchored while you are present with other tasks.
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