>On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

I highly recommend The Healing Power of Resilience by Dr. Tara Narula, board-certified cardiologist and chief medical correspondent for ABC News. Here’s an inspiring and thought-provoking excerpt:

Countless times I have witnessed patients beat the odds and live beyond expectations—even if it was a stretch to think they would survive just one more day. For many it is that one more day, and that one more day has so much value for them and the people who love them. Allowing for hope is a key part of how we can help people and patients build resilience. Instead of limiting our expectations of what happens next to fit within the smallest, safest perimeter, we should allow people the room to grow, to live into whatever might be possible.

Hope is difficult to define; we just know it when we feel it. One definition of hope that I like defines it as an “optimistic state of mind based on the expectation of positive outcomes in one’s life or the world.” This means to me that hope is something we can choose to cultivate. Hope is a positive motivational state based on a sense of agency (the belief that you initiate and direct actions) and action (the belief that you can find ways to achieve your goals). It’s not simply wishful thinking; it’s a belief in the possibility of a better future, coupled with the conviction that you can play a role in making that future a reality. If we believe that resilience is, rather than the ability to bounce back, the ability to bounce forward and to find peace with a new normal, hope is believing that we can make that new normal a good place to be.

Source: The Healing Power of Resilience, pp. 192-193.