Hello to all our wonderful readers and participants. It is the midpoint of our current challenge, where the theme this month is
HOPE. Today I am going to share a little introspection with you all that I am also presenting on my own personal blog in my "Motivational Monday" feature. Today, we are going to take a look at the concept of hope...
You Gotta Have Hope
What exactly is hope? I guess the best place to start is with the definition of the word. According to Miriam Webster, hope means:
1. to cherish a desire with anticipation
2. to desire with expectation of obtainment
3. to expect with confidence
So, hope isn't about wishing, because wishes are just about wanting a fantasy to come to pass. To actually hope for something one must strongly believe that the end result will be a positive one; that if we truly believe, we will achieve our desired outcome. Hope is isn't a passive activity, it is hard work.
Why do we need hope? Well, believe or not hope is the one thing that can help us reach the other side of whatever trouble we are facing. Unfortunately, for many people, life isn't always glamorous or easy. Many of us encounter difficulties throughout our lives. I doubt that there are very many people who have skated through live unscathed. When we encounter those difficulties we need to find something to latch onto and for most of us, that is hope. I came across this quote while doing some research, "As humans, we
need hope. We can't live without it. It is the
lifeblood to our spiritual survival, and the only thing that pulls us
out of the deep trenches of the pain and hurt of life." (Goins, 2009, para. 4). Without hope in our lives we would spiral down into a state of despair. I've been there and it is no place to be whether for a short stay or a long term visit. Thankfully, I managed to pull back out, reach out and grab onto a sliver of hope. Know that when you need to draw on it, hope can be there for you too.
Not only is hope good for our soul but it is also good for our mind and body. Studies have been shown that people who have hope in their lives have a different neurochemistry than those who don't. Hope has been shown to act like a narcotic by blocking pain. Other studies indicate that our respiratory and circulation systems, along with our motor functions can also be impacted by the concept of hope. Think of what that could possibly do for someone experiencing pain on a daily basis or someone facing the effects of a deadly disease. Now, it is still possible that your body will give in to the condition you are facing BUT think of what hope can do to prolong our existence and keep us from giving in to the deleterious effects of what we are facing. In other words, isn't it better to face our days in hope rather than in fear?
HOPE--it really does make a difference.
To help inspire you down the path of hope, check out the wonderful projects some of my Design Team had the opportunity to create...
Samara used the majestic image called
Ponies from one of our on-going sponsors
Ike's Art. If you are interested in purchasing this cool digi, click on the
watermark to head over to the Animals section of Ike's store.
Next up is...
Vicky has used a sweet image from another of our on-going sponsors,
Creative Bug Digitals. This image is called
Angel Bug. If you are interested in purchasing this adorable image, click on the
watermark to head over to its location in Naomi's store.
Sandy also created a project for the midway...
Sandy used a beautiful image, also from
Ike's Art. This stunning image is called
Awareness and you can purchase it in the store by checking out the '
My Latest Designs' section. I've linked the watermark below to go straight to the store.
Finally, that leaves our...
Edwina from
Edwina's Creations, who is our guest designer this month, created this cute card...
Edwina has used the image called
Owl Scenery, also from
Creative Bug Digitals.
If you are interested in purchasing this scene, click on the
watermark to head to its location in the store.
Clicking on
the team members name (or in the case of our GDT, the blog name) will take you to their blog where you can check
out the details for their inspirational creations!
So if you haven't entered already, what are you waiting for? Create a project and/or post that is
positive AND relates to
hope, provide an explanation of how your
project and/or post relates to the theme somewhere in your post or come
over and leave a comment with the explanation. Easy, peasy! You can enter our latest challenge by clicking
HERE.
Also,
I know that the participants would love for you to go and pay them a visit. Remember
we're creating a Path of Positivity to follow one project at a time and
we'd love to see you somewhere on that route even if it just by leaving a
comment on an entry from someone who has touched you somehow with their project and/or post!
If you are new to this unique challenge, you can find out the impetus
behind why I started it under the '
Introductions' tab and all the details you need to know in order to participate, in the '
Challenge Details' tab (both tabs located at the top of the blog).
Don't Forget...
You still have 3 days to vote on your favourite entry for
Challenge #6.
Voting is quick, easy and painless so I hope
you will consider casting your vote if you haven't already. Don't
forget, if you leave a comment after voting, you have the opportunity to
walk away with a digital paper created especially for you.
To check
out all the eligible images and cast your vote, click
HERE. You have until
Thursday, October 24th at
11:55 pm to have your say in who walks away with the
Voter's Choice prize. If everything goes according to plan, the winners for Challenge #6 will be announced next Monday.
LOOKING FOR ANOTHER MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE ON HOPE?
If you need some motivation to get you started, I've provided another motivational quote free for you to download:
Credit Notes For This Creation:
© 2013, Lisa L. Décosse. PUO. However, you are allowed to use the
sentiment on handmade projects that you intend to sell on a small scale
basis provided credit is given. You also need to include a credit note
and a link to this blog should you use any of my images in your
creations and post them on your blog. Please be sure to familiarize
yourself with my full terms of use found in the 'Download
Instructions & T.O.U.' tab at the top
of this page.
Of important note: Please do not share my
images with family, friends, etc. Additionally, do not post any images
to file sharing services like Box®, 4-Shared®, etc. Instead, please
direct people to my blog so they can grab the image for themselves. If
you would like to post a watermarked version of the image, please
contact me to obtain one.
Font and Image Information:
Click on the font name to take you to a download location. Both of these fonts are free for commercial use.
You will
notice that the sentiment may appear huge depending on what software
program you download it into. You can always reduce the size without
distorting the overall look.
SUMMARY
Whether
you are new and need to familiarize yourself with all the details, or a
returning participant and just need to refresh yourself, you can
always find out everything
you need to know in order to enter this challenge in the
'
Challenge Details' tab at the top of the page. You can enter the challenge by clicking
HERE
to take you to the current challenge post where you can also find a
quick summary of the details related to this challenge, towards the
bottom of the post.
GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY...
Please show your support to our fabulous sponsors by going over and
checking out their work and saying hi if you have the chance. In
addition to Floppy Latté Designs AND Fresh Brewed Designs, our guest sponsors for the month...
...we also
have our regular sponsors:
That is me and I'd love for you to visit me
on my personal blog.
If you ever have any questions be sure to
EMAIL ME or just leave me a comment.
We look forward to seeing you participate!
References:
Goins, Jeff . (2009). The Importance of Hope in a Person's Life . Available: http://jeffgoins.myadventures.org/?filename=the-importance-of-hope-in-a-persons-life. Last accessed 20th Oct. 2013.
Levine, Alexandra, M.D. (1989). The importance of hope. Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1026693/?page=1. Last accessed 20th Oct. 2013.
Miriam-Webster On-Line Dictionary. (2013). Available: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hope. Last accessed 20th Oct. 2013.
Mitchinson, Thomas . (2013). The Importance Of Hope. Available:
http://www.emergence-international.org/2013/04/the-importance-of-hope-daily-bread-04302013/.
Last accessed 20th Oct. 2013.
