The path to creating energy for tomorrow runs through this
As Zülfü Livaneli put it: "A person can come to accept a situation when they hold no hope at all, but when a ray of sunlight, no bigger than the tip of a needle, appears through the pitch-black clouds, their entire world becomes bound to that light..."
The force that will lead us out of darkness into light is HOPE.
Hope is what makes us strong, our greatest ally in overcoming difficulties and problems.
Hope is the feeling that helps us, in the face of difficult circumstances, with the thought of seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
If we have no hope for tomorrow, it becomes very difficult to create the energy to reach tomorrow and beyond.
We need to know this: when we lose our hope, we actually lose our source of life.
It was my valued mentor Erich Fromm who instilled in me the hope to live. When I was just 13, Erich Fromm said this to me:
"You're clearly someone who thinks. I'm going to tell you something you should never forget for the rest of your life. In the future, you'll sometimes feel alone, you'll find yourself alone. When that happens, look up at the sky. You'll see that the shining stars stand alone, scattered across the sky, solitary, unorganized. Darkness, by contrast, is organized, whole, and covers everything. Don't fall into despair, but never forget this truth either."
EVERYONE BLAMES 2020, YET…
Ever since Fromm taught me at 13 that every darkness gives way to light, I have never abandoned what I know to be right for the sake of avoiding loneliness.
Taking these words of Fromm and Livaneli as a starting point;
How does one live without hope? How are difficulties overcome?
If we look at where we've arrived today, we overcame the difficulties we faced throughout our lives by believing, with hope, that we could do so.
Even when things didn't turn out as we wished, and even when we couldn't overcome certain problems, we were still able to carry on with our lives.
Hope is a beautiful feeling that gives us humans strength; when used for its proper purpose, it strengthens a person.
We're going through dark days. Everyone blames 2020. Yet we never once asked how we got here, or what our own responsibility is in this situation coming about.
To change something, we must put in effort, and see and analyze what's happening around us.
Even at the risk of exclusion and loneliness, we must let the universal ray of hope guide us toward what we know to be right.
Looking with hope, first imagining the light, and opening up the space where that light will be reflected… Before you know it, everything changes.
By taking responsibility and putting in effort, we can build the healthy path to tomorrow with hope. Remember, people who don't lose their hope are happier.
People who have hope know that even a small ray of hope can change their lives.
With my endless respect for Erich Fromm and Zülfü Livaneli, who have touched so many aspects of my life…
With my wish that 2021 be a year full of HOPE and LOVE…