Hope is where humans are hoping. Hope is not the same as expectation. When we hope, we know that it is possible that we don’t get what we hope for. Hope means wishing for something good to happen in future, for instance that we get cured from a sickness.

An expectation is more rationally founded, we expect the company to earn more next year, even though of cause we cannot be completely sure. But we build our expectation on how things are going at the moment and before.

If we hope for better income, we have trust, but no knowledge. We hope for miracles, hope for the beloved to fall in love with us too, but we don’t expect him to.

In hoping we accept that life is unsure. Still we need hope to not fall down in misery, before something bad could happen, we hold on to life by hoping that bad will not happen. Feeling lonely, hoping for the love of our life to enter prevents us to not fall down in depression. There may be no concrete seducer visible at the moment, still we hope that one day he will come.

An expectation can also be expecting something bad will happen, if we know things are evolving in the wrong direction. Still we can hope things will change for the better. When we no longer have hope or trust, then we have given up. We know in hoping that we have no control.

Expecting something we can act and fight for our expectations to come true. In hoping we trust in time, life it self or a religion, angels, Universe or magic, knowing that we cannot act. Only hope. Maybe pray.
In hope there is an element of surprise. We can get what we hoped for a different way than we imagined was possible. Still it´s a joy or relief for us, when it happens.

Hope is not only about being passive waiting for receiving. It is also about being able to receive and be prepared for it. It means that we can live life as it is awake right now – with hope.

To be hoping we need courage. In hope we live in the not-knowing between discourage and overconfidence. In hope we have to be strong to hold on to integrity in oppressive situations.
To be hoping also means to have patience. We don’t know, how long it will take to achieve what we hope for, so we must be patient waiting with hope and trust.

Hope seems to slow down time, here is no space for greed, also we don’t drown in despair or resignation, because we hope.
In hope we live in the present assured by the belief that whatever the result, it will have contents and meaning, not emptiness. Built into hope is therefore flexibility, acceptance of what ever will come, it will be for the best.

In the past hope was connected to unknown land, possibilities of better societies, easy lives, felicity, freedom and safety. Or hope was connected to after this hard unfair painful life, where gods and goddesses could (hopefully) ensure us reward and relief.

As there is not much new land to discover on the planet, we realize that hope is something we must take responsibility for ourselves. This is scary. As we have the power to create exactly the life, we want – individually and in groups or societies: what is there (more) to hope for?
Many people today feel instead hopelessness, meaninglessness, not trusting neither political-, educational-, health-systems nor religions, we can´t hope for them to make us happy. We seem to have realized that hoping somebody else or something else will make our lives better, probably is an illusion – we must take action ourselves.

So what do we hope for? Utopia? A happy-land? Equality? Freedom? Peace? Clean air and water? Many of us do. Finding an important cause to work for leads to hope – for future. For instance many participate in volunteer work that they find of great importance.
Finding meaning in the present now creates hope and help us enjoy small everyday-acts. Togetherness, proximity and serenity seem to lead us to hope for better sustainable lives for our children.

Hope helps us to live life and be amused, even at hard times. Included in hope is love for life. We all hope to be loved and to love. Hope makes us believe in tomorrow