What is hope?

This is in answer to Lisa Marie's exasperation.

Hope is a wasteful emotion.

What really is important is BEing and not TRYing. And hope is another of those TRYing type of emotions.

I HOPE I did well on my test. I HOPE she says yes. I HOPE there is still time. I HOPE I don't die!

Let me explain a bit about what I mean by "Hope does no good".

First off, only actions truly matter. What you do, what you say, what you think, these are all actives. Hoping, wishing, praying are all passives, and hence do not matter. You can hope that things go your way but you can only control your own actions. You can direct other people, guide or "force" but only they can perform their own actions.

So hoping that they do what you want will only lead to disappointment if things don't go your way. And false hope if they do because it won't always go your way.

By BEing you do not have to depend on other people's actions, you can just deal with them. By TRYing it is all dependent on other people and their whims.

In the end, only YOU can make yourself mad, sad, or glad. No one controls your emotions and no one can make you change yours unless you give them the power to do so. And then you hope they don't be mean or destructive with their new found powers.

Do not give up your own power by hoping others will not do bad things, or hoping they do good things, or wishing things would go your way, or praying nothing bad happens.

You control yourself, and these false emotions are detrimental.

Now, I am not a pessimist so here is what I do. I just am. I forgo as many expectations and anticipations as I currently am able and accept situations as they are and make my decisions based on what I know.

My desire is to know as much as I can so my decisions are better every time I make them. The only true thing is to better yourself by being a better self. Learn from your mistakes, or better yet, learn from other people's mistakes so you don't have to make them and hurt yourself.

Anyway, I think I meandered a bit but hopefully, pun intended, you get my drift. :)