Hope is a strange thing.
It can feel all-encompassing and also be the only thing we seem to have.
We can find it and lose it in the space of a moment again and again and again.
We can see hope in a smile,
A word,
A distant promise,
And find it in the depths of our hearts exactly where we thought it didn't exist.
How do we find hope when it feels like all hope is lost?
We breathe,
Friend,
Taking a nice deep breath into our lungs,
Letting our chest and belly expand.
The exhale is a gentle letting go of the things that are no longer ours to carry.
Then we repeat and repeat.
Exhale and exhale,
Creating space,
Tending to ourselves,
To our darker corners,
Filling our halls and corridors with breath and love,
A small smile,
A tentative laugh.
And breathe and breathe,
Creating the space that hope would like to fill.
And then we ask hope in.
Hope might wash over you like waves and waves upon a shore or come in a trickle or not arrive at all,
And this is okay.
We keep expanding our breath,
Keep peering into the darker places within us,
Moving the things that are taking up space so that we might continue the journey of creating a place that hope would like to come home to.
Be patient,
Be soft,
Be kind to yourself.
Hope is coming if it hasn't already arrived.
