"A rainbow is a prism that sends shards of multicolored light in various directions. It lifts our spirits and makes us think of what is possible. Hope is the same – a personal rainbow of the mind."
Charles Snyder
According to Snyder et al. (1991) hope is a positive cognitive state based on a sense of successful goal-directed determination and planning to meet these goals. In other words, hope is like a snap-shot of a person’s current goal-directed thinking, highlighting the motivated pursuit of goals and the expectation that those goals can be achieved.
hopefulness is a life-sustaining human strength comprised
of three distinct but related components:
1. Goals Thinking – the clear conceptualization of valuable goals.
2. Pathways Thinking – the capacity to develop specific strategies to reach those goals.
3. Agency Thinking – the ability to initiate and sustain the motivation for using those strategies.
Hope does not necessarily fade in the face of adversity; in fact hope often endures despite poverty, war and famine. While no one is exempt from experiencing challenging life events, hope fosters an orientation to life that allows a grounded and optimistic outlook even in the most challenging of circumstances.
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