Hope through Agency

Following on from teaching foresight last week, I have been turning over not just scenario thinking, but also the idea of hope in my mind.

Futurist Rowena Morrow has written a post on Hope and what it means (What the world needs now is…HOPE). She draws on the work of Prof CR Synder to stress the contributions of pathways, goals and agency. I’ve been thinking about agency (the ability to take action) in line with the part of compassion that stresses the need to first feel compassion and love for ourselves. “Love thy neighbour as thyself” as emphasised in one of the chapters of Karen Armstrong’s book (Twelve Steps to Compassion).

To proceed compassionately, I must first back my capacity for kindness. To proceed with hope I must first back my capacity to act.

Self as a starting place.

[Day 11, 12, 13: Research]