Scope of Hope

Is hope a help or hinder?

To hope, is to want and have some expectation that something positive will happen. The common connotation seems to be that it's a good thing, to hope. But as I tried to understand in my last post; Positive Reinforcement Perception Relativity, too much focus on a positive that is not currently present, can cause the perception of negativity, due to comparing potential positives to current positives, and viewing the lack of present positives, as a negative. This seems to make sense in the comparison of past positives, or positives which others have, but does it also apply to potential future positives?

Potential positives might have a different element involved. If the potential positive is highly probable, and soon to occur, then it might be plausible to use that positive to increase current mental positivity. Since a positive perspective seems to require knowledge of positive aspects that an individual has, if a future positive is known to be very probable by the individual, it can add to the positive aspects for them to focus on, to increase the sum positive perception. The future positive should be near enough in the future, and certain enough, that they can allow it to energise them, by basically considering it the present. Or perhaps focus on present factors which lead up to the future occurrence (such as preparing).

For eg, I have a tag and bonfire event tomorrow, which I can perhaps use a positive influence. Since I really enjoy this type of event, I can consider it positive, and also because its only 1 day away, and have had some present preparation for it. It’s also highly probably to occur, in my mind, since I know that enough reliable people are planning to attend, and the weather forecast looks good, and is reliable enough for this close of a time period. 

If the potential positive is questionable of whether it will occur, focusing too much on it can lead to stress, and also focus on the potential that it does not occur. Once the probability is high enough (from the estimate of the individual) that the potential positive will not occur, then they will likely come back to perceiving the hypothetical situation of lack of positives, as a negative, by comparing the scenario of positives, to the scenario of lack of positives.

For eg, if I focus on the hope that a certain women will want to date and be in a relationship with me, at some time in the future, I can easily perceive this as negative. Since the probability seems low, by my best estimate, considering current factors, if I focus on that hope, I will likely compare that potential positive to my current lack of that positive, resulting in the perception of current negativity. And since the timeline is so unknown, I would likely perceive any time before it potentially happening, as a negative. 

In the case of the future positive being too far in the future, the individual will likely consider it to not be a present positive. If it’s not a present positive, then the same misinterpretation happens, of perceiving the lack of positives, as a negative. Over-focus on a far future positive will likely cause this negative perception, due to thinking about all the time before the positive occurs, and considering that time to be negative, because of its lack of positive. 

Hope for something questionable or far in the future potentials can be a useful thing, for motivation to take applicable actions required to cause that potential future positive. As with preparation, taking present actions toward a future potential, can contribute to perceptible present positives. Over-focus on the future positive, seems to be mainly where the problem comes in. 

A lot of focus on that potential positive itself, causes that disappointing downside, of considering the lack of immediate positives, as a negative. Keeping a balance of focus seems to be most beneficial. Enough focus on a potential positive, to keep motivated for making progression towards it, should be helpful, while keeping in mind accurate probabilities, and avoiding focusing too much on the future positive itself. Too much or little seems to be a hinder, so understanding and aiming for the effective degree, should be helpful, within the Scope of Hope.