Dear Spirit to Spirit friend,
In the past couple of weeks, I've been noticing that "hope" is in the title of many emails I've received or there is a reference to hope in the body of the email. Whenever this kind of synchronicity happens, I pay close attention. It often indicates that something of that energy is emerging in a more apparent way in the collective energy field of our world.
Beyond the traditional definition of hope that we learned as children, what does it mean to have hope- to live in hope? What does hope signify in our lives and in the lives of our animals family members? How do they relate to hope?
When we sense the energetic qualities of hope, we may be able to feel that one primary quality is openness. Being "open to" something- free of positive or negative association. Although we have been taught that it's good to hope for something specific, the actual energy of hope is non-specific: it is an availability to all possibilities. It has a quality of movement, a leaning into... a flow that stretches beyond the bounds of limited thinking and imagining.
A perfect example of hope can be seen when we go to a shelter looking to adopt an animal. As we visit the dogs, many greet us in great hope- which we experience as their openness, their excitement, and their eagerness to connect. They sit on the edge of the possibility that something absolutely wonderful can happen in an instant- this instant. (note: some cats also demonstrate hope in an obvious way, others ask us to sense into a more subtle level of possibility with them). We can feel a purity in the openness, a kind of innocence. These beings are open and available, ready to flow into something new and unknown. And, even when it turns out that it is not their turn for their lives to change, with the next person who arrives, they immediately throw themselves full-heartedly into hope, into the next magnificent possibility.
It is quite a beautiful thing to behold. Something that we can take into our lives with our human and animal family members. And something that we can model as we navigate our world of ongoing challenges.
If we can be hope- like those pups waiting for their right people to show up- at times when we are facing into the complexities of our lives and this world; if we can flow with the energy of hope/possibility... we will be open to the many- perhaps surprising- possibilities that may reveal themselves. We will be in alignment with the forward moving energy of life revealing itself, which truly is...hope.
And as we embody hope and live as hope, those human and animal beloveds who share our lives- and all of those who share our planet- will feel this openness to possibilities. Possibilities that may radically transform us and everyone and everything in our world.
In Gratitude & Love, Joanna