Psyche & Soul 56: Post Midlife -XIII AGING GRACEFULLY

Podcast Link:

https://anchor.fm/boscom/episodes/2-56-Psyche--Soul--119-e14sa5v

Hello, this is Jose Parappully, Salesian priest and clinical psychologist at Sumedha Centre for Psychospiritual Wellbeing at Jeolikote, Uttarakhand (sumedhacentre@gmail.com)  with another edition of Psyche & Soul.

In this edition I present practices that help us age gracefully.

While I was in a neighbouring country for a Workshop I visited a nearby convent where there were a few nuns I knew. While taking tea the Superior of the community told me, “You must visit the youngest member of our community.” I was taken to an upstairs room where I met Sister Gladys (name changed). She had a beaming smile and her entire face had a glow of joy which lit up the room. She engaged me in pleasant conversation. She was 97 years young! She had been lying in her bed for a few months now. She had to be helped on to a wheelchair, for her to move anywhere. Despite her condition she appeared so happy and fulfilled and had the capacity to make others happy. I said to myself, “That’s what means to age gracefully!” My encounter with Sr. Gladys happened more than 20 years ago. But the image of the beaming, joyful sister who had aged so gracefully remains an inedible and delightful memory. There are countless others like Sister Gladys who have been able live happy, graceful lives and enjoy wellbeing even in old age despite many setbacks and limitations.

Post midlife-years can be difficult for a variety of reasons. The slowing down of metabolism and weakening immune system can lead to disabilities and illness. Loss of hearing, impaired vision, and limited motor agility can be particularly frustrating. There can be lack of feelings of self-efficacy for a variety of reasons. The negative attitudes expressed by family/community members, colleagues, and younger people toward the incompetence, dependence, or old-fashioned ways of older people can lead many of them feel quite discouraged about their self-worth.  Despite these challenges it is possible to age gracefully.

RESEARCH FINDINGS

Research on aging provides many insights as to what is required to age gracefully.

The MacArthur Foundation Study on Aging was undertaken by group of 16 scientists drawn from biology, neuroscience, neuropsychology, epidemiology, sociology, genetics, psychology, neurology, physiology, and geriatric medicine. Their conclusion on what leads to successful aging:  the ability to maintain three key behaviours or characteristics: a) low risk of disease and disease-related disability; b) high mental and physical function; and c) active engagement with life.

Mills Longitudinal Study compared cohorts of sick and healthy women at ages 41, 51, 61. This study too identified three characteristics of those who age successfully: a) increase in life satisfaction; b) reduced negative affect; c) increase in generative activities. Negative affect refers to emotions as such as anger, guilt, shame and so on. Generative activities refer to actions that express care for and attention to others.

The Harvard Study of Adult Development - “arguably the longest study of aging in the world” - consisted of three separate cohorts of 824 individuals—all selected as teenagers for different facets of mental and physical health nearly a century ago and studied for their entire lives. The first is a sample of 268 socially advantaged Harvard graduates born about 1920—”the longest prospective study of physical and mental health in the world.” The Second,  is a sample of 456 socially disadvantaged Inner City men born about 1930—”the longest prospective study of ‘blue collar’ adult development in the world.” Third is a sample of 90 middle-class, intellectually gifted women born about 1910—”the longest prospective study of women’s development in the world.”  

George Vaillant, a former director of study, writes in Aging Well:  “It is not the bad things that happen to us that doom us: it is the good people who happen to us at any age that facilitate enjoyable old age.” Successful aging is also facilitated by a capacity for gratitude, for forgiveness, and loving and being loved by a particular person. Alcohol abuse consistently predicted unsuccessful aging, in part because alcoholism damaged future social supports. Learning to play and create after retirement and learning to gain younger friends as one loses older ones were also significant contributors. Objective good physical health was less important to successful aging than subjective good health.  What is meant by this is that “it is all right to be ill as long as one does not feel sick.”

The Harvard Study also identified some significant characteristics of those who age gracefully: They care about others, are open to new ideas, and within the limits of physical health maintain usefulness to society and help others. They show cheerful tolerance of the difficulties of old age. They insist on sensible autonomy (doing for themselves and by themselves what they are able to) while willing to acknowledge their dependency needs and gracefully accept the help offered them. When ill, they are patients for whom a doctor enjoys caring. They are optimistic and look at the bright side of life. They maintain hope in life. They retain a sense of humour and a capacity for play. They are able to spend time in the nostalgic reminiscence of the past, yet they remain curious and continue to learn from the next generation. They try to maintain contact with old friends while making new ones.

The Nun Study, directed by David Snowdon and colleagues (originally begun as a study of Alzheimer’s disease) asked “Why do some of the sisters age gracefully, continuing to teach and serve, retaining their mental faculties into their eighties and nineties, even past one hundred? Why do others—who have lived such similar lives—appear to lose themselves, forgetting their closest friends and relatives and, in the end, becoming almost wholly disconnected from the world around them?” (Aging Gracefully, p.2)

The risk of death at any given year after age sixty-five is about 25 percent lower for the School Sisters of Notre Dame the subjects of the Nun Study than it is for the general population of women in the United States. What is it that helped these sisters to live dramatically longer (average age: 89; the youngest was 84; the oldest 106 years), and healthier, lives than their lay counterparts? The study provided the following answers:

1. Exercise: All the walking the sisters had done-- at a time when motorized transport was rarely available at the beginning of the last century—had helped them to live long and healthy. Exercise is one of the most reliable ways to preserve cardiovascular health. Exercise improves blood flow, bringing the brain the oxygen and the nutrients it needs to function well. Exercise reduces the stress hormones and increases the chemicals that nourish the brain cells. These changes help ward off depression and some kinds of damage to the brain tissue.
2. Education: About 85% of the sisters in the Nun study had bachelor’s degrees and about 45 % had master's degrees—“astounding statistics for any age group, let alone for women born in the early part of the [20^th] century.” Not only did the less-educated sisters have higher mortality rates, but their mental and physical abilities were much more limited if they did reach old age. These data are in keeping with earlier findings. As early as the 19^th century, British scientists had discovered a strong link between education and health.
3. Language: Language skills also had a significant impact on health and wellbeing in old age. The data from the Nun Study tended to confirm that healthy subjects were more proficient in sophisticated word use. They were apt at using multisyllabic words, such as particularly, privileged, and quarantined. In contrast, the sisters who later developed Alzheimer's more frequently used monosyllabic words, such as girls, boys, and sick.
4. Nutrition. What mattered was not just the quality of the food, the social environment of the meal also mattered. Snowdon wrote: “What I now know for sure is that nutrition for healthy aging is not just about eating certain foods or downing a certain milligrams of prescribed number of vitamins each day. It also depends on where we eat, whom we eat with, and whether the meal nourishes our heart, mind, and soul as well as our body,”
5. Positive Emotions: A positive outlook, especially early in life, contributed to longevity and wellbeing. In the autobiographies the sisters had written when they were an average age of twenty-two years old, positive emotional content strongly predicted who would live the longest lives. The sisters who scored the lowest number of positive-emotion sentences had twice the risk of death at any age when compared to those who were in the highest group. “This is a most extraordinary finding: A writing sample from early adult life offered a powerful clue as to who would be alive more than six decades later,” Snowdon observed.

Interestingly Snowdon refers to two factors that contributed to longevity and wellbeing which was not tested by the Nun Study design, “and yet after fifteen years of working with the sisters, I believe strongly in their importance” he observed.

6. Deep Spirituality. The first is the deep spirituality that these women shared. Profound faith buffers the sorrows and tragedies that all of us experience, Snowdon wrote. Moreover, evidence is now starting to accumulate from other studies that prayer and contemplation have a positive influence on long-term health and wellbeing. A Stanford Research Institution study, for example, has concluded “that the inner life, rather than externals, is central” to health and happiness.
7. Community. Convincing evidence is accumulating from other research, including those cited earlier in this article, that strong relationships as in marriage, membership in churches, clubs, or other social groups, and regular contact with family and friends all reduce the risk of death from the major killers such as coronary heart disease and stroke and enhance longevity. Community was a significant support system that the sisters shared.

A Summary

Summarising the data from research cited, here is a list of attitudes and behaviours that enable us to age gracefully:  Exercise of body and also of mind (through intellectual pursuits, maintaining curiosity and eagerness to learn), nutrition including a positive eating ambience, maintaining positive emotions, balancing independence and dependence, optimism and hope, sense of humour, thankful living, nostalgic reminiscence, helping others through generative activities, caring for and learning from future generation, healing from negative emotions, forgiveness, deep spirituality, and close relationships and community.

Introspection

• What do the research findings on aging gracefully evoke in you?
• Which of the factors that promote graceful aging are you practising? To which do you need to give greater attention?
• What are the implications for you personally, for your family or community?
• You may be aware persons like Sr. Gladys who have been able to age gracefully. Want van you learn from such persons?

Prayer

The Bible mentions a number of persons who have aged gracefully, remaining active and generative into ripe old age, such as the patriarchs Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel, Moses and  David, Zechariah and Elizabeth… The Gospel of John (21, 18-19) has a scene in which Jesus describes what will happen to Peter in old age. We could read and stay with this passage or the stories concerning the other figures mentioned above and spend some time talking to God about what is evoked in us through this podcast and our reading and reflections.

Have a blessed and safe weekend.

Thank you for listening.

Pictures: Courtesy Google Images

\ Jose Parappully SDB, PhD

sumedhacentre@gmail.com

  

Psyche & Soul 55: Midlife XII-- ATONEMENT (AT-ONE-MENT)

 Podcast link:

https://anchor.fm/boscom/episodes/2-55-Psyche--Soul--117-e14h1df

Hello, this is Jose Parappully, Salesian priest and clinical psychologist at Sumedha Centre for Psychospiritual Wellbeing at Jeolikote, Uttarakhand with another edition of Psyche & Soul.

In this edition, I present another midlife challenge: atonement.

Integrity that we explored and reflected upon in the previous podcast calls for atonement, understood as at-one-ment, becoming one, becoming whole.

 An essential challenge here is to work through and heal from the painful feelings and experiences we have carried with us into midlife.

 At-one-ment involves reconciliation - making peace with self, with others and may be also God, something that most of us find a real challenge.

 Reconciliation

To experience atonement, we must come to terms first of all with guilt over our own wrong doings. We need to forgive ourselves for our foolish choices and decisions, for messing up our lives, and turning a deaf ear to the deepest longings of our soul.

We need to let go our grievances against others for the real or imagined damage they have done to us. We need to forgive and reconcile with people who we feel put us on the wrong track or stood in the way of fulfilment of our dreams.

In the pursuit of our ambitions and misplaced priorities we might have been unfaithful to our promises to others, to husbands and wives or to God as religious men and women. We are challenged to right these wrongs, forgive ourselves and others, as well as ask forgiveness. We are called to reconcile, to reach out to others and end our alienation.

Reconciliation is a challenge for most of us. Some of us are able to achieve it, some of us do not. Some of us do not want to reconcile, preferring to carry our hurt, anger and resentment, seeing our stubbornness and pride as badges of strength.

Antony and Rajan were very close friends who set up a business together. The business thrived for a few years. Then profits declined, the ledger was showing big losses. After a careful internal auditing it was discovered that Rajan had been siphoning off money on various spurious accounts. Antony was very angry and upset. He angrily confronted Rajan and resigned from the company and decided not to have anything to do with Rajan or his family. This situation went on for a quite a few years. During a spiritual retreat Antony had a conversion experience. The words of the preacher on forgiveness touched him deeply. Though painful, Antony decided to forgive Rajan and reconcile with him.

Sr. Prabha had been the principal of a higher secondary school for several years. She had worked hard to bring the school to a standard of excellence and everyone was very happy with her. Ten years after she had taken over, her Provincial wanted to give her a transfer. Her considerable talents were needed elsewhere. Prabha talked the Provincial out of it.  Another three years passed. There was now a new Provincial who also decided to transfer Prabha, who tried to talk her too out of it. She shared with the new Provincial all the plans she had to take the school to still  greater heights, and that there were a number of works she had initiated that needed her attention. However, the Provincial stuck to her decision. Prabha obeyed and took up her new assignment, angry and resentful. She also stopped talking to her Provincial, and continues to avoid her even now when that Provincial has finished her term of office.

Antony realized the futility of holding on to his anger and was able to let go and make peace. Prabha was unable. She is still holding on to her hurt and resentment which keeps her fragmented, splintered within herself, alienated from others. No reconciliation, no atonement, no integrity.

Acceptance

Atonement is manifest also in the greater acceptance of the paradoxes of life, between good and evil, failure and success; in the giving up of our rigid and unbending opinions, and greater openness to contrary views; in becoming more sober and less impulsive in our judgments and our behaviour; in the willingness to acknowledge and accept more easily that we have been wrong on many matters and in many situations.  

 Atonement is manifest in the capacity to accept and tolerate ambivalence, conflict and failure. We no longer have the compulsion to be always perfect. We become more accepting of our limitations as well as appreciating our strengths and our accomplishments.

Inclusiveness

Atonement also calls for becoming more ‘catholic’- more universal, more inclusive, making space for everything and everyone in our heart, learning to cross narrow boundaries. We exclude nothing and no one, rather we embrace and include all, breaking down walls, broadening our perspectives and expanding our horizons.

 This acceptance and inclusion apply also to parts of our own selves and our personal history that we have despised or rejected.

Mourning

Atonement calls for mourning. Mourning is grief over unrealized dreams and lost opportunities, foolish decisions and roads not taken. It is coming to terms with our mistakes, failures and disappointments, letting go and moving on.

In authentic mourning, we process the past and discover who we are as a result of our experiences. We realise we cannot undo past events or the foolish choices and decisions we made, or the wrongs that others have done to us. We accept them and their consequences for us, who we have become as a result, and move on with life.

 We have to mourn those aspects of our personality we were unable to develop because of past choices or circumstances. We have to deal with the disparity between who we are and who we had dreamed of becoming— that is, mourn the person we have not, and now may never become.

 Shanti was brilliant in school. She had dreamed of becoming a doctor. But when she completed her school finals, she felt a call to become a religious. She felt she could fulfil both her dreams – be a religious nun, as well as a doctor. She became a nun; but her dream of becoming a doctor was never realized. After taking her religious vows, her superiors wanted her to be in education. She was deeply disappointed. But she obeyed, though with some initial resentment. She qualified in the educational field, obtaining a PhD, the only one in her congregation to do so. She has accomplished much as a well-recognized and appreciated educator. She still feels a tinge of sadness when she recalls her unfulfilled dream, but she is also grateful when she recalls how many lives she has touched as an educator.

Mourning is not regret. In regret we remain tied to a non-existent past, revelling in the “If only…” wishing things were different. Historical events cannot be wished away. All our wishing to the contrary will not make an iota of difference to the fact that something happened, however unfortunate it was.  But we can change our attitudes toward what happened. We can accept what has happened as part of our history, as something about which we today can do nothing and move on with our lives focusing on the present and the future. This is mourning. This is what Shanti did.

The Challenge of Atonement

As psychologist Daniel Levinson observes, failure to undertake this challenge of atonement can move us into late adulthood, bitter and resentful about perceived or real injuries, as “angry Martyrs,” our energy sapped by rage and self-righteous indignation. On the other, when we experience atonement we move toward the sunset of our lives enjoying peace and serenity.

I conclude with William Kraft’s description of the challenge of atonement: “…middle agers are challenged to reflect on life and to bring integrity into their relationships with themselves, others, and the world. Out of guilt, they come to forgive themselves and others. Out of depression, they come to a deeper fulfilment. Out of limits, they come to experience the unlimited. Out of resentment, they affirm their dignity and learn to be compassionate and forgiving. Out of anger, they become gentle and touching. This is the age of atonement, the time to become one with self and others. (Spiritual Growth in Adolescence and Adulthood, 1983, p. 21).

Reflection Exercise

·         What aspects of Atonement described here have you engaged in? Which do you still need to engage in? Which of them do you find difficult to engage in? Why?

Prayer

The story of Joseph and his brothers in the Old Testament (Genesis Chapter 42-45) is classic case of atonement – forgiveness and reconciliation and moving on.

The young Joseph is sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. Later Joseph becomes the premier of Egypt and when a famine ravages their land his brothers are forced to go to Egypt and beg for grains from Joseph who recognised them. He is able to let go of the cruel injustice they had inflicted on him and treat them with love and affection and given them the grain needed. Not only, he invited them and their father to stay with him in Egypt.

What does this story evoke in us?  We could spend a few moments with our God, talking to God about our challenges related to atonement and seek his help to do the needful, so that we can move into the second half of   life less burdened by resentments and anger, and in serenity and peace.

 Have a blessed, safe and healthy weekend.

Thank you for listening/reading.

Pictures: Courtesy google Images

 Jose Parappully SDB, PhD

sumedhacentre@gmail.com

Psyche & Soul 33: MAJOR DEPRESSION

 Podcast link:

https://anchor.fm/boscom/episodes/2-33-Psyche--Soul--73-eq9ip5

 

Hello, this is Jose Parappully, Salesian priest and clinical psychologist at Sumedha Centre for Psychospiritual Wellbeing at Jeolikote, Uttarakhand, with another edition of Psyche & Soul. 

In this edition I shall explore Depression.

Major depression, commonly known as clinical depression, is the most common mental disorder in the general population.

According to data developed by the Global Burden of Disease study, major depression is the leading cause of DALY or the years of healthy, productive life lost to an illness, be it through early death or through disability worldwide.

Symptoms

Major depression is characterised by a pervasive sense of profound sadness, low energy, disturbances in eating and sleeping, feelings of guilt, low self-worth, hopelessness and meaninglessness, even despair, poor concentration and problems with memory. Most people suffering from it feel worst in the morning, and the mood seems to lighten a bit as the day goes on.

Although profound sadness is the salient features of depression, some individuals suffering from it emphasize somatic complaints (e.g., bodily aches and pains) rather than reporting feelings of sadness. While depressed persons are low on energy and not very active, many of them report or exhibit increased agitation, restlessness and irritability - which is a contributing factor to sleeplessness.

When persons are depressed, it is very difficult for them to be interested on anything. They would prefer to stay in bed, even if they have desire to get out and do something worthwhile. It would be too much of an effort to get out, and so they often stay on in bed. They stop watching TV, stop reading, become silent and incommunicative. Those around them may label them lazy. But they are not. They would prefer to be active, but they just can’t bring themselves to do that.

Depression affects both mind and body. Depression can raise risk of heart disease. People who are depressed are three times more likely than those who do not suffer from it to experience pain, especially intense, disabling neck or back pain and headaches. One study has shown that people with major depression are three times more likely to have migraines, and people with migraines are five times more likely to get depressed. Depression can affect the stomach too -- causing nausea, indigestion, diarrhea, or constipation

Suicide

Thoughts of suicide or actual attempts are quite common. The risk of suicide is about 20 times greater among those diagnosed with major depression in comparison to those without it. Two-thirds of those who commit suicide are found to have struggled with depression. Women are more often affected by depression than men, by a two to one ratio. However, more depressed men (7%) than women (1%) commit suicide. One reason for this is that women are more likely to seek treatment and take medication.

Bipolar Depression

One form of depression is known as bipolar, also known as manic depression. A person suffering from bipolar depression has periods of depression preceded or followed by periods of mania in a cyclic fashion. The mania phase is characterized by excessive elation, activity, talkativeness, inflated self-esteem or grandiosity. The person may throw himself or herself into ceaseless activity or show indiscriminate enthusiasm for interpersonal, and sometimes sexual, involvement. Almost invariably, there is a decreased need for sleep. In extreme cases, a person may go on for days without sleep and yet not feel tired. But after a while he or she sinks back into the lethargy of depression. The duration of the depressive and manic phases can be very short or long.

Roots of Depression

Depression is a complex illness with biological, personal and environmental contributors. In the biological understanding, depression is caused by imbalances in the brain chemistry.

Often, depression runs in families, giving credence to the impact of hereditary factors. In this understanding, depression is considered to be “endogenic,” that is, as arising from a constitutional (inborn) disposition that is relatively unaffected by external events.  

However most often depression arises from personal experiences, especially of loss and setbacks in life. An unsupportive and unhealthy social environment exasperates the disappointments and distress as response to external factors.

There are many personal experiences that can lead to depression. Physical, sexual, or emotional abuse can increase the vulnerability to depression. Interpersonal conflicts, especially family disputes, feeling of being unwanted, prolonged grief after death of a dear one, especially when the death is unexpected or tragic, can turn into depression.

According to Roger MacKinnon and Robert Michels, authors of the classic text “The Psychiatric Interview in Clinical Practice,” the loss of a love object is the most common precipitant of depression. This loss is usually the death of or separation from a loved one. In other circumstances, it is an internal psychological loss resulting from unfulfilled expectations, or loss of self-esteem and self-image. For depression-prone individuals self-esteem is based upon continuing input of love, respect, and approval from significant other figures in their life. When this is missing or disrupted, depression is precipitated.

 Treatment

The most common approach to treatment is biological - use of antidepressant medications. When depression is deep seated, the medical approach can help to restore some stability of mood, and provide help to return to some sense of normality and involvement in society, and is often necessary.

Depression, however, is more of a “soul sickness” – than a biological disease. The root causes of feelings of hopelessness, existential despair, and crippling lack of motivation cannot be healed by popping pills. Medication may help reduce symptoms but do not address the underlying causes of depression. This is done through psychotherapy, which is a time-consuming process, but helps one to sort out the complicated emotions and anxieties that lie at the root of depression.

The results obtained by the drugs, can be obtained by exercise as well. What medicines do is to restore the bio-chemical balance in the brain by working on molecules and hormones. Exercise does the same, but at a much slower pace. Research suggests exercise releases chemicals in the brain that make a person feel good, improves mood, and reduces sensitivity to pain. Exercise done along with others, increases human connection, and helps especially to lift oneself from the morose feelings that accompany depression.

Reaching out to others in kindness and compassion, also help to lower depression. Researchers at the University of California Riverside, and Duke University, for example,  have found that engaging in these acts of kindness and compassion which they have labelled Positive Activity Interventions (PAI) help to reduce depression. These help persons suffering from depression to move out of their morose self-absorption, create positive feelings and help energise them, just like exercise does. They create a feeling of connectedness to others, bring meaning in their lives, increased perception of self-efficacy and competence, all of which we know alleviate depression.

Introspection and Prayer

Have you ever been depressed? If yes what was it like? What helped you to get out of it?

Have you lived with anyone who is depressed? What was that like?

Prophets and saint too have been depressed. The prophet Jeremiah was depressed and even wished to die because of the unresponsiveness of people to his message and their attacks on him. The prophet Elijah too sunk into hopelessness and despair and wished he were dead. Jesus struggled with his feelings of despondency in the Garden of Gethsemane.

We could stay with whatever is evoked in us now as we recall these experiences, yours and of others,  or what is triggered in us by this podcast and spend some time in payer.

Have pleasant weekend. Be safe. Be blessed.

Thank you for listening/reading.

Pictures: Courtesy Google Images

Jose Parappully SDB, PHD

sumedhacentre@gmail.com 

Psyche & Soul 26: MOVING INTO THE NEW YEAR WITH HOPE!

 Podcast link:

https://anchor.fm/boscom/episodes/2-26-Psyche--Soul--59-eo70mr

As 2020 comes to a close, we look forward to 2021 with Hope.

2020 changed our world. 2020 has been very distressing and disruptive and in some sense a disastrous year. A year which has affected the global society in so many negative and painful ways. Covid-19 blighted our hopes and dreams, disrupted our lives in drastic ways. It undermined our sense of security and predictability. Uncontrollable spread of the deadly virus led to over a million being infected and to the death of hundreds of thousands, leaving families in grief, sometimes in despair. The lockdown caused immense suffering, especially to the vulnerable. Travel was curtailed, social contact was restricted, and we were forced to be homebound. Economy collapsed, leading to loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. Haunting pictures of deprivation and death on the road have seared into our collective memory. There is a sense of helplessness and hopelessness, increase in mental illness and suicide.

In this context, hope is our greatest ally. Every New Year brings a fresh outlook; we look forward to better times. We dream.

And we really hope that 2021 will usher in that freshness and newness in a very special way. We need this newness very badly in every sphere of our lives. A newness that will help us wipe away the bad memories, the nightmares, of 2020. Hope that the New Year will dissipate the virus, restore health and wellbeing to all of us, usher in a safer, more peaceful, and a more equitable and compassionate society.

WHAT IS HOPE?

Hope is the conviction of having a meaningful future despite obstacles and difficulties, and also choosing the pathways and means to make that future real.

Persons high on hope have visions of who they want to be and what they want to accomplish in life and are able to motivate themselves, and feel resourceful to accomplish their objectives.

 Hope includes practical pathways to realize the bright future we envisage. We work hard at realizing that dreamed of future. We persist in seeking goals despite setbacks and obstacles. We are also flexible enough to find different ways to get to our goals or to switch goals, if needed.

Hope and optimism go together. Optimism provides us with a faith that the future is going to be bright, that we can accomplish our goals, whatever they may be. When in a tight spot, we reassure ourselves that things will get better. Hope thus involves faith, belief in one’s capacity to achieve desired results.

 

HOPE THEORY

This is the understanding of hope provided by C. R. Snyder, the leading psychologist exploring hope. Snyder and his colleagues have come up with what they call the “Hope Theory.” The theory holds that hope involves two types of thinking: agency thinking and pathway thinking.

 Agency thinking refers to our determination to achieve our goals despite possible obstacles,

When we are high on hope, we embrace such self-talk phrases as “I can do this” and “I am not going to be stopped.”

Pathways thinking refers to the ways in which we strive to achieve these personal goals.

It involves generating an effective route to a desired goal. When that route does not bear the desired fruit, we create alternate routes and persist until desired outcomes are realized.

 

HOPE IS NOT WISHFUL THINKING

Hope, thus, is not mere wishful thinking, an illusion. It is real. It involves having goals and working towards realization of those goals, despite obstacles. Hope calls for determination, commitment and persistence. Hope is aptly expressed in Barack Obama’s famous election slogan. “Yes, We Can!” It was not just a slogan, a belief. He set in motion a powerful election machine, and organized an army of committed volunteers working hard to make the dream come true.

BENEFITS OF HOPE

A large body of research shows that hope promotes health and happiness. Hope buffers individuals against a number of physical and mental problems and helps them heal faster and easier. Individuals who maintain high levels of hope when battling illness significantly enhance their chances of recovery. They remain appropriately energized and focused on what they need to do in order to recuperate.

 Hope is negatively correlated with depression, anxiety, and anger and positively correlated with life satisfaction, positive physical and mental health, self-esteem, ability to adapt and cope in various situations and longer life.

Because of these benefits, hope would be our best companion to journey through 2021. We need to believe that 2021 will be a better year, and strive with confidence and persistence to make it a better year for us and our world.

 

Introspection

·         How do we really feel as we come to the end of 2020 and move toward 2021?

·         What is it that we hope for us and our world as we move into 2021?

·         What is the newness that we would like to experience in the New Year? What is it we need to do to bring about that newness?

Prayer

Sacred scripture provides frequent assurance from God that he will bring about better times. Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah especially speak of the better times that God will usher in particularly after times of suffering and deprivation. For example, Isaiah says, something which is very relevant in the context of the suffering and hopelessness brought by Covid-19.: “And (God) will destroy…the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces…” (25, 6-8)

In the Book of Revelation, we hear the One sitting on the throne in heaven saying: “See, I make all things new!” (21, 5)

Christmas, the Incarnation of God, that we just celebrated, is not only about the embodiment of God, divinization of nature, as we heard in last week’s podcast, but also about God’s comforting presence with us. Through the prophet Isaiah God assures us: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you…. Fear not, for I am with you” (43, 2-5). And Jesus’ final words in the gospel of Mathew is: “I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (28, 20)

This protective and caring God, our Emmanuel, is very much with us here and now, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves at year end. We could consciously attune ourselves to God’s presence to us and spend some time talking to God about our travails of 2020, about our hopes for 2021, the newness that we would like to experience. And listen to what God has to tell us, to discern what God’s New Year gift/message is to us.

I wish you a very happy, safe, healthy and blessed New Year.

Thank you for listening.

Pictures: Courtesy Google Images

Jose Parappully SDB, PhD

sumedhacentre@gmail.com