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NO HOPE ON THE BOAT!
Posted: 2nd January 2013
Does Hope help?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01phjb8/Four_Thought_Series_3_Sally_Kettle_Does_hope_help/
I was listening to Sally Kettle's account of her Mother and Daughter voyage across the Atlantic for the RSA on Radio 4. She was fascinating and completely captivating.
Since hearing the programme I've found out a little more on her and she did theatre studies - which shows as she came across so eloquent and funny - I thought she was a stand-up comedian!
"No Hope on the Boat!"
As Sally describes her own philosophy of hopelessness; 'using the word 'hope' reduces your own power'.
To Hope is to be passive.
Hope is not an action plan.
While you are hoping for 'wishful intervention', you are not 'doing' or actively changing your own situation.
Rather than hoping for change, you can actively make a choice to do something (or not - it is still a choice).
sally Kettle also touched on Edward de Bono's approach to creative thinking of "Po".
http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/po.htm
Rather than being confined to dogmatic answers to questions, you are freeing up thought process and creative potential.
Her final thought was rather than hoping we could use the word "Wonder" instead - leaving you with a question rather than a belief.
Four Thought
"Adventurer Sally Kettle argues that hope is not helpful, and suggests some alternative strategies.
Sally has twice rowed the Atlantic Ocean, and worries that hope can lead to a passive state of mind. There is nothing, she believes, like taking concrete steps to make things happen.
Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling. Recorded live in front of an audience, speakers air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.
Producer: Giles Edwards."
TEDxBrighton - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6nvMoV2mLA
"It isn't always what you do, but what you inspire other people to do"
? - It's strange really how this programme came on just a day after seeing a piece on questions and answers. It reminded me about this alternate view on seeing questions as doorways into new worlds of possibility.
It feels as though it is again the little perception-changes that make a difference - like being excited rather than nervous.
Personally, I'm not sure I fully know what this outlook on life is or the implications it might bring with it, but I instinctively feel as though I like it. :)
Further Reading
The Pankhurst Centre
I visited the Pankhurst Centre on a very cultural lunch break from work