‘Hope,’ ‘change’ not just political buzzwords

 

San Francisco — Politicians are using the rhetoric of “hope” and “change” to win primaries and caucuses around the nation, and the message is certainly resonating with the voting public. Nevertheless, should the average voter wait for a political figure to attempt to instill either, or it is up to each person to discover the power of hope and to learn to use it in order to create the change they want for the country and for themselves?

“Change and our readiness for it is one of life’s great mysteries,” said Auriela McCarthy, author of “The Power of the Possible.”

 

“We’re ready when we’re ready, and not a moment before,” she said.

Whether it is a life partner or best friend — or whether it is a battle with addiction or a war with another country — change will only come when the people needing it feel “seen, heard, understood and accepted.”

As a result, McCarthy stressed that it is impossible to ever change somebody else, be it through force or the “best of intentions.” However, she said, “You can be someone’s reason to change.” Does that mean a powerful leader who inspires and brings hope to apathetic people can be that reason? “Absolutely!” asserted McCarthy. “And so can the person you love and care about. But the choice to change will still be yours.”

She also stressed that every person, not just the president, needs to learn how to apply hope in his or her everyday life.

 

McCarthy insisted that hope is not just a fallback during tough times or only for children and the elderly.

“Fight your cynicism,” McCarthy said. “Refuse to be hopeless, and start dreaming against all odds. Allow hope to take you over. It’s a tremendously powerful tool of manifestation.”

She believes this is why people are drawn to positive leaders like Dr. King, Gandhi, Buddha or Jesus Christ: because they are the disseminators of hope in times of joy and of sorrow.

“Feeling hopeful even in the darkest moments — that’s powerful. Learn to hope and make it a part of your life. See things shifting and changing for the better,” she said.

 

“Discover hope — and you will discover the strength to change your life. You will start seeing the possibilities, because hope is intricately linked to both the power of the possibility and the power of the future. Hope makes it possible to forgive the past and to let it go; it replaces apathy and cynicism and heals the old wounds. We begin to heal our relationships, we begin to heal our lives,” said McCarthy.

So how does this come into play when picking a friend, much less a president?

According to McCarthy, every being is a source of energy, and every being’s “resonance” is the result of all of the energies carried by that being at any particular moment. And while that resonance is never static, “the main tone of it remains unchanged. There are people we call positive and those we call negative,” she said. “There’s also everyone else in between. What matters is how strong their resonance is, wherever it falls on the continuum. The stronger it is — the more power it has to affect us.”

 

Could this explain why people are drawn to certain candidates or people? The power of resonance can clarify why it is important to be surrounded by those who are eternally optimistic about life.

“Stay away from people who love to blame everyone and everything. Protect your resonance from them. They’ll bring you down,” said McCarthy.

Stump speeches will continue to include “hope” and “change,” but the status quo will remain in place until the politician, country or individual goes beyond the words and actually embraces the concepts.

For this to happen, McCarthy said, “it has to start with us. We need to discover that we matter, our lives matter and our needs and wants matter, even though they may not be the first priority. Then what happens in the world — starting with our country — will matter as well.

 

As for politics, this means more people voting, less indifference about who wins an election, and a public that trusts the candidate for which it voted. It all culminates in, once again, remembering what it means to be an American.

“It’s the American spirit. It takes my breath away,” concluded McCarthy.