“People’s emotions often are determined by their expectations for the future,” explains David Feldman, assistant professor of counseling psychology at Santa Clara University in California and a practitioner of hope therapy. “People who believe they can move toward their goals will feel positive emotions; people without anything to work toward feel hopeless.”
Hope, as defined by psychologists, is the belief that you have the skills and energy to make your dreams a reality. But can a sunny buzzword be turned into a technique to help those feeling adrift, ineffective or uninspired? To paraphrase a hopeful refrain from Barack Obama’s presidential campaign: yes, it can. (more)
