Believe and expect that you can change

There's nothing like an inspiring song to really get you going. And isn't it strange how years later you can listen to the song and feel the power of it all over again? I was a student in South Africa when Eddy Grant released Gimme Hope Joanna and I remember playing it loudly in my car (the best sound I had at the time was a tape deck installed in my car). South Africa was not an easy place politically at the end of the eighties and songs like this inspired me and gave me a belief that change was possible. The fact that I was unaware the song had been banned by the South African apartheid government and I was playing it liberally only makes it that much sweeter now!

It is not enough to just have facts about the change that lies ahead. To really connect with the changes we face there also has to be a strong belief and expectation that we can change. In other words there has to be hope. Often it is someone else who is able to give us the belief and expectation, the hope, that we can change. Eddy Grant sang about it and I believe that holding the hope that my clients are able to change is an essential part of my work. At times when things seem hope-less it is warming and inspiring to find someone who is hope-full. Someone who holds hope. For you.

You can develop hope-fullness for yourself by learning to notice what is working around you, rather than what is broken. Even in really difficult times, or when change is forced on you, it is possible to hold hope. This is done by exploring the different possibilities and choosing a way forward, and moving towards it with the belief and expectation that it can become a new reality.

Or, like me, discover and play a meaning-full song, one that inspires hope, and gets you through the tough hours.