Lesson 8

Hope makes people stride boldly toward their goals. Counselors are hope-awakeners, fanning 'the spark of hope into a flame of energy for change' by using a variety of methods such as believing that people have the power to change, coaching them to use their own desire to change, encouraging those in despair to imagine that they are launching toward their goals, affirming those actions that can make things better (even very minor progress), and relating with care and confrontation (p. 50).

Kwan (2010) goes on to support Clinebell's idea of hope: "He saw hope as the power that drives people to escape from the web of despair and also the strength that saves people when their confidence and love plummet" (p. 50).
Kwan's support of Clinebell is obvious, as his article outlines the former's view of hope, quoting from Kwan (2010, p.50) regarding the features of hope:

Kwan uses the term hope within a counseling context to "allow people to be open to the future, turning themselves and their community, as well as their past, present, and future, into an unbroken integrative so that people can be released from bitterness" (p. 51). Kwan does something quite impressive as the article unfolds.
From hope, to future-oriented approaches, sustaining modalities, goal-oriented purpose and then to Positive Psychology, Kwan indicates:

"According to the analysis of B.S. Held and C.R. Snyder, the substructure of this approach had the same origin as positive psychology" (Kwan, 2010, p. 52). Kwan reviews the work of Donald Capps and reveals that...

The skills suggested in the hope approach, are similar to those in Positive Psychology, and summarized by Kwan (2010) as "future envisioning and revising the past" (p. 55).

As counselor's we can de-emphasize negativity by assisting clients with forming realistic goals for future-oriented living (versus constantly listening to the languishing in despair or negative symptomatology, worry, and pathological enmeshment with the present or past- though some amount of active validation and processing is certainly advocated in this area).

Matching goals and challenges with skills and ability is something Csikszentmihalyi has described as inducements to 'flow' experiences. Envisioning a future circumstance, outcome, goal with hope; assessing resources, skill and realistic achievement is an approach to therapy that may reawaken happiness and add success as pertinent and real patient care- a focus on health instead of illness.
The second skill 'revising the past' differs very little, in this writer's opinion, from the concept of positive reframing, an often spoken about yet surprisingly absent (in literature) concept that has powerful meaning.

Kwan (2010) summarizes Capps by indicating that as an 'agent of hope' one of our foci should be to turn the eyes of the client from inward rumination and suffering of past events toward reframes that provide lessons and meaning to the suffering that occurred, "from the problematic past toward the caring mentorship of the past" (Kwan, 2010, p. 55).

Next Kwan (2010) introduces Everett Worthington's theory of hope and goal oriented counseling.

In June 2011, I attended the 25th annual Thomas Nevola Symposium at Colby College in Maine. The symposiums are thematic, but always address some aspects of Spirituality and Health. This year, Dr. Everett Worthington spoke about Forgiveness. His keynote address summarized his horrifying experience with coming to terms with the brutal murder and rape of his mother on New Year's Eve. From this experience he became a leading researcher on Forgiveness.

Kwan (2010), however, gives some insight into how Dr. Worthington was able to accomplish forgiveness. If a poster-child of positive reframing of the past is necessary, Dr. Worthington's face would grace the walls of the halls of forgiveness.

Kwan (2010) summarizes: "According to Worthington, hope-focused counseling promotes a client's hopes through enhancing a sense of agency and reinforcing skills for improving present conditions" (p. 57). The message is that positive change is possible. Again, Kwan reiterates a recurrent theme, in order for treatment to be effective it is to be: "future-oriented, virtue-rooted, and goal-focused," his introduction of Positive Psychology echoes these features and connects ancient (religious and philosophical) thought with the 'new' science of Positive psychology. He, however, starts with the assertion, to which I am supportive, that "Positive psychology is actually not a new thing" (p.58).

Kwan (2010) submits that "According to Martin Seligman, psychology had three distinct missions before the Second World War: curing mental illness, making the lives of all people more productive and fulfilling, and identifying and nurturing high talent" (pp. 58-59). As early as Maslow (and as previously discussed, much earlier) formal theory highlighted talents, strengths, skills and 'actualization.' Positive Psychology does draw on the theories of Humanistic psychology, but in an effort to differentiate, and define the field, Martin Seligman presented to the American Psychological Association an attempt at a reversal of the illness ideology, and in a speech in 2000 he stated, according to Kwan (2010):

Positive Psychology does adhere to three levels of focus. Seligman mention three levels of address: "subjective, individual, and group" (Seligman, 2002) the areas of foci that will, as the ancients foretold, reveal the Oneness in each of us. Also, relevant and of importance, these levels will allow for the 'virtue' with which humans are given ultimate purpose.
In Paul Pearsall's (2003) book the Beethoven Factor, Pearsall is interviewing the survivor of a Nazi prison camp in the hopes that he could gain a better understanding between post traumatic stress and post traumatic growth and resiliency. Pearsall was researching "Izzie" and his manner of flourishing adaptation after being forced into the loss and depravity of his persecution. Izzie became the teacher in the interview, and Pearsall documented his words:

You see, you knew what I have been saying all along. You spoke to us of what you called the Beethoven Factor, You see, Beethoven ultimately did not survive. None of us do. But the meaning he managed to find through his misery helps us hear what he heard, the joy of living. Survival is always temporary, but the results of Beethoven's growing through his problem are within the notes of his music, and they are forever. Beethoven could not escape the physical prison of deafness, but he was able to go far beyond its limitations. He managed to escape the prison of his deafness by finding new meaning in his life that freed his spirit, allowed him his own way to listen, and still helps those who will listen to his music find their own meanings in their life….

... I have something that might help you think more about your theories about thriving. The SS officers sometimes made prisoners who were musicians play Beethoven and other classical music for them. I remember thinking how ironic that was. The officers probably heard only notes and not the true meaning of Beethoven's music, or perhaps it was their only source of joy in their impoverished lives….
I remember the prisoner we called 'the teacher,'

…. Her name was Mosha, and most of us in the camp knew her. The men and women were always separated, but I saw her sometimes. Her face was scarred from beatings and her face was skeleton-thin and pale with deeply sunken eyes that had darkness all around them, but you could see that she had a real beauty. Because she had not been cooperative and refused to play for them, they had placed both her hands on a large rock and made a game of taking turns breaking each of her fingers one at a time with their rifle butts. After her torture that day, the women say she seemed more at peace than ever that night. She became weaker and weaker, and one morning we found her dead….

Mosha had been a piano teacher before they took her as she was playing and teaching one of her students. They shot her student but kept Mosha alive to play for them, but no matter how they beat her, she refused. You could say she should have played for them so she could survive, but her music was a sacred gift she would never give them. It was more important to her than surviving. Whenever Beethoven was being played for the SS officers, the women said that Mosha would always say in her teacher voice, 'Sush! Be quiet now and listen to the deaf man's symphony. If you listen as he did, you will hear the way to freedom.'….

Many times Mosha would shut her eyes so she could listen more intently, and tears would squeeze out and roll down her face. She would not stop to wipe tears and kept moving her hands and swaying her head back and forth as if she was conducting a large orchestra. She would say the same words about Beethoven that many of her friends in the camp came to know by heart. 'If you will listen to Beethoven, you will hear the way to freedom.'….

…Most times, we could barely hear the music coming from the officers' quarters and usually we could not hear it at all, only drunken laughter, but Mosha always said she could hear it. The weaker she became, the more she said she could hear it….

… On the night she died, they said no one but the teacher could hear music, but Mosha said it seemed to be getting louder and louder. As she lay in her bed, she had closed her eyes and conducted the deaf man's symphony for one last time. She had come to the camp a teacher, but escaped it as a maestro" (Pearsall, 2003, pp.62-63).

I include this excerpt to echo post traumatic growth, resiliency, sense of control, self-determination and living authentically in a manner of wholeness and in so doing living with honor, sincerity, and knowing; and, dying with the dignity that one has preserved herself, not sacrificing the self and sacred held close. Though Mosha surrendered to corporeal death, her spirit provided hope to others, and left a mark as deeply etched as the scars of brutality that had been experienced. "Izzie" focused on Mosha, this allowed his own flourishing life to have greater meaning. With the flap of a butterfly's wing, the 'maestro' left a trace that carries through time.

Learning theory proposes that only through our environment do we learn; as if immersed in total darkness from birth, our eyes though not damaged, would not form the ability to see. The absence of stimulation affects us in a direct and personal way, we become blind; so, too, does the absence of environmental and social stimulation, the enrichment others can create, or the deprivation that can be caused.
The significance, in this case, is the fact that we learn who we are, initially, by exploring the external world. We internalize labels, learn responses, and construct our realities from an early age on the basis of what others say, do, or show us. There is an "interweaving of feelings and thoughts" (Day, 2007, p. 24) when we begin to differentiate, self-define, and dissonance creates a catalyst that implies understanding or breeds misunderstanding.

'Cognitive-interpersonal theory' suggests thoughts and feelings are created when exposure to environments are experienced. We begin to reenact roles with which we are familiar, comfortable (or paradoxically comfortably uncomfortable), and have some sort of gain or importance to us or others, and motivate us to behave in a particular manner.

Engaging the imagination to include a reframing of past experience, inherently social (as likely we are born into a social system), and actively altering response (cognitive and affective) in a self-directed manner, as assisted by a counselor (or individually motivated) can supersede the effects of earlier experience (in some cases) and ignite a sense of movement toward happiness.

Helping & Paying it Forward: Philanthropic endeavors, Volunteering, Random Acts of Kindness, Anonymous notes of Thanks….

PLEASE NOTE: You do not have to give these letters to anyone, but please submit them to me. IF you do give these notes, post the experience to the discussion board—OPTIONAL!

Create a Hope Kit OR Therapeutic Tool Kit – you can make a box, use a shoe box, decorate a container, use a drawer in your home, use a bag, but find a container that can be kept over time and easily stored.

A Therapeutic Tool Kit: contains specific items pertaining to feeling better- minimizing distress, blocking symptoms, helping you cope or engage in something positive in a time that is emotionally distressing. Sometimes, items can be things like, tea, good luck charms, journals, pictures, worksheets, music cd or a dvd, a book or a poem, etc. The idea of the Toolbox is to identify different types of 'tools' to repair feelings of anxiety, anger or sadness. Categories of tools are identified that repair emotions by quickly releasing or slowly reducing the energy generated by the emotion, changing thinking, or blocking negative thoughts- types of tools can include

A Hope Kit: is a collection of objects associated with your hope~ the objects can make you smile, make you remember a time of hope, increase your optimism, lighten your heart and/or ease your mind, make you laugh, uplift your mood, etc. The Hope Kit is a little different than a Therapeutic Tool Kit as the Hope Kit's sole purpose is to collect those things in life that have, do, and will always remind you of something pure, magical, beautiful, optimistic and hopeful.

Post a 600 word discussion onto the Bb site. Discuss the creation of your kit. In your post, describe the process of creating these things, if it altered your perspective, and speak to the psychological aspects revealed in this assignment: think about basic psychological theories- and describe how this project emphasizes any aspect of those theories/or does not.