Hope as a Practice

This workshop will draw upon the book Active Hope by Joanna Macy and Christopher Johnstone. The session is designed to give you a short but meaningful experience of the active hope process in a safe and supportive group. It will also provide guidance for developing your own, more extensive, practice of hope which you can use in your everyday life, either by yourself or with others.

We will begin with a brief exploration of the meaning of hope and identify how a deliberate practice of hope may help us to overcome feelings of helplessness in these turbulent times. Then, through a series of timed and guided activities, we will experience the four stages of the Active Hope process:

• Gratitude: Recognising what we are grateful for
• Honouring our pain for the world: naming our feelings about something we are currently concerned about in the world
• Seeing with new eyes – seeing the possibilities for positive change and recognising that even small actions, when combined with those of others, can be effective
• Going forth – identifying what change we are most passionate about and identifying a part we can each play in bringing it about

Through this process, we will work to find hope and strength in seemingly hopeless situations, and develop a vision for personal and collective action.

The activities will be varied and provide opportunities for individual reflection, deep sharing and listening in small groups, and discussions together as a full group. There will be breaks and/or extended periods away from the screen at least once an hour.

Although the Active Hope process is not specifically Quaker, it has many resonances for Friends and these will be highlighted in the workshop.