Hope

What is hope?

Hope happens when someone sees something, decides that it is desirable, realizes that they may not get it, but believes that there is still a chance of getting it. Hope is expectation moderated by probabilistic estimation of a desired event. For hope to be a strong force for tension, the person's estimation that the desired event will occur must be both high enough for them to consider there to be a reasonable chance of it happening, yet not so high that they become complacent.

And heres an interesting fact:
Fear is a form of negative hope !! Both are forms of anticipation as we forecast the future and experience emotions in line with our predictions.
So now I know what I have to do next time when I get afraid seeing a street dog or the doc telling me that I would need an injection, I would hope that the dog doesn’t bite me and the injection don’t hurt me and hence feel no fear!!

When you are down with no hopes and unsure of what will happen next.There are so many questions that are going on in your mind all the time,
will I be able to sail through,
will I get what I desired for so long,
will I still be happy if I dont get it,
will I be strong enough to move on if I dont get it,
and the most important question which you try not to think of and subdue it as hard as possible but still it pops up time and again and gives you goosebumps,shivers and sometimes even makes you sad is, what if I dont get it..what next?
The big question .. what next?
It is not possible to find answers to these questions but still they refuse to subside. You try to make yourself happy at times by assuming positive answers to these questions. At other times when thinking of alternatives and assuming negative answers to these questions you definitely tend to become sad. But the only thing that does not let your spirit die, the same spirit that forces you to find answers to the above ruthless questions, is hope. You therefore do the following,
Hope to sail through because you know you deserve it,
Hope to get what you desired for long since you have put in so much effort and hard work to achieve it,
Hope to be happy even if you dont get it because definitely this is not the end of life and you deserve much more happiness,
Hope to be strong enough to move on because you have seen much more worse things in life,
And the big question now doesnt need an answer you see.Dont you keep saying to yourself -- I would rather hope for nothing to happen if it doesnt happen for the best.So hope is involved in no hope also !
But then as the saying goes"whatever happens, it happens for the best".
It is hope that keeps things illuminated around us. It is the hope inside that never lets us die down and give in.So keep hoping and things will definitely fall in place.

The hope curve

At zero probability, we are realistically pessimistic, and we stay this way until there is sufficient probability to break out of the fear of loss. As the event becomes more likely, we become disproportionately optimistic.

Isnt this interesting and actually true.

Types of hope

Desperate hope : Desperate hope is when a deep need is felt. Someone who is desperate will do almost anything to satisfy the hope (with 'almost anything' being in proportion to the level of desperation).

Optimistic hope : Whereas desperate hope often has a negative connotation, optimistic hope is often positive.

Realistic hope : Realistic hope is based on a fair estimation of probabilities. Thus, if something is over (say) 50% likely, then I might realistically hope that it will happen.

False hope : This is when you know for sure that you would not get it but still you don’t lose hope, probably you are waiting for some miracle to happen.

No Hope : Ahh.. this happens when something really bad has happened and there seems no end to the suffering and hence you fall into a state of no hope. But this can be quite dangerous since absence of hope would only prolong your suffering, I have a personal experience for this.

Some facts quoted above have been taken from the website http://changingminds.org/explanations/emotions/hope.htm Very interestingly they have explained how hope is involved in gambling and doing make-up !!