Happy St. Patrick’s Day. \u00a0What an appropriate day for me to talk about hope and how it can be cultivated. \u00a0I spent many St. Patty’s Days in the bars drinking green beer or martinis with their green olives. \u00a0That was a time in my life that I was very short on hope and didn’t even realize that’s what was missing. \u00a0I was miserable, for sure, especially when sober, but couldn’t put a name on the misery. \u00a0However, I was convinced that if only others would change, I’d be just fine. \u00a0That’s what sent me off to my first 12 step meeting, in fact.<\/p>\n
Alas, that wasn’t the purpose of the group, they told me. \u00a0Fortunately I stuck around and the hope others had for their own journeys modeled for me a very different way to live, one I was eventually willing to adopt for myself.<\/p>\n
It’s been nearly 35 years since that first meeting back in Minneapolis and I am no longer bereft of hope. \u00a0 On the contrary, I am filled to over-flowing with hope. \u00a0I awake with it and I have learned that if I pass it on to others as the day unfolds, I will go to bed with it too. \u00a0And the next day will repeat this pattern.<\/p>\n