Why to Choose Hope over Fear

first published on LinkedIn in 2020

In today's dramatically negative world, the choice between FEAR and HOPE is of vital importance. Barbara Fredrickson wrote about this concept extensively in her book "POSITIVITY".

She says, that hope and fear are deeply felt neurochemical attitudes toward our current situation and alter our outlooks, our actions, as well as the life paths that unfold before us.

On the one hand, there is FEAR.

FEAR is more predominant in today's culture than we tend to think. Populists use it often and skillfully, in order to form the needed alliances that desperately feed their hunger for power and money. FEAR screams HITLER. Every dictatorship and autocracy in the world is based on FEAR. FEAR is the background color in prisons, FEAR keeps people to stay in unhealthy relationships. FEAR - if we dare to say it (and I am a big supporter of her cause) - is also the driving force behind FRIDAY'S FOR FUTURE and Greta Thunberg's attitude towards life. There is a strong tendency towards FEAR in everyday life. FEAR keeps us in check. FEAR moves us forward. FEAR will make us walk into enemy gunfire. FEAR is powerful.

Fredrickson found, that people react to FEAR with a certain predictable behavior: "Fear closes us down. Our actions become rigid and predictable. Pessimism pervades our self-talk and drives our decisions."
On the other hand: HOPE.

Fredrickson: "Hope is not your typical form of positivity. Most positive emotions arise when we feel safe and satiated. Hope is the exception. It comes into play when our circumstances are dire – things are not going well or at least there’s considerable uncertainty about how things will turn out. Hope arises precisely within those moments when fear, hopelessness or despair seem just as likely."
HOPE, then, is NOT the counterargument. HOPE is not the positive concept AGAINST FEAR. HOPE is what follows FEAR as the necessary next step. FEAR is the mother of HOPE and HOPE will be next.

If we take a look at our world today, terrorism, uncertainty, and environmental crises are dominating the news. Australia is burning. Negative politicians are currently winning elections in many countries of this world. FEAR, panic, negativity, hatred and the loathing of anything not "ME" seems to be prevailing.

The good news, this is exactly the breeding ground for HOPE. It looks like Nostradamus predicted this change already in the Middle Ages. And he could presumably pinpoint it almost exactly to the year 2020.

While we can see that NEGATIVITY is strengthening, so is POSITIVITY. The forces that are supporting the HOPE concept are gaining power. The psychologist Richard Lazarus says: hope is "fearing the worst but yearning for the better."

Fredrickson, once more: "Hope literally opens us up. It removes the blinders of fear and despair and allows us to see the big picture. We become creative, unleashing our dreams for the future. This is because deep within the core of hope is the belief that things can change. No matter how awful or uncertain they are at the moment, things can turn out for the better. Possibilities exist. Belief in this better future sustains us. It keeps us from collapsing in despair. It infuses our bodies with the healing rhythms of positivity. It motivates us to tap into our signature capabilities and inventiveness to turn things around. It inspires us to build a better future."

Let's choose HOPE. It will wire our brains differently. It will make tomorrow a better place starting from today.

Christian Rook

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@barbarafredrickson
Barbara Fredrickson is the author of Positivity and Kenan Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Fredrickson
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/positivity/200903/why-choose-hope
https://lesen.amazon.de/kp/embed?asin=B00550N7VY&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_u6vkEbN1371HE