Amid all the challenges and conflicts in our world today, new research finds that hope can lead to positive social change (Leshem and Halperin, 2026). Research shows that hopeful people who feel more empowered are more likely to become more involved in community service and take action to help others (Schornik and colleagues, 2023 ).<\/p>\n
Hope theory, the psychological definition of hope, involves three components:<\/p>\n
Goals New research shows that hope is most effective in promoting positive social change when: <\/p>\n 1. Our goals are actionable and possible \u201cwhen we desire something and have some expectation that our desires could be fulfilled\u201d (Leshem and Halperin, 2026, p. 5).<\/p>\n 2. Our hope not only brings us a sense of purpose, making us feel better, but also leads to positive action\u2014moving forward with pathways and agency (Leshem and Halperin, 2026).<\/p>\n 3. Instead of denying our negative emotions, we can let ourselves feel them, which can promote greater agency. As Leshem and Halperin explain, \u201cnegative emotions seem to provide the sense of urgency, uneasiness, or agitation that motivates people\u201d to change the undesirable situation (2026, p. 7). <\/p>\n In fact, our recent research on \u201cmindful hope\u201d (Feldman, Shapiro, and Dreher, 2026) finds that grounding hope in mindfulness<\/a>, which invites awareness of the present moment, can offer us a stabilizing and empowering foundation to explore hope by choosing effective pathways, developing our agency, and striving toward new possibilities. <\/p>\n Research has shown that we can actively build our hope by: <\/p>\n Setting a goal we can believe in and writing it down Now it\u2019s your turn. If you\u2019d like to build greater hope to promote positive change in the world around you, you can first <\/p>\n Become more aware of your feelings about the current situation by asking yourself: <\/p>\n \u201cWhat am I feeling?\u201d This will help you set your goal.<\/p>\n Set Your Goal. There are so many problems in our world\u2014hunger, homelessness, environmental damage, global warming<\/a>, and more. New research describes how developing active hope can help us achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including health, education<\/a>, economic growth, environmental sustainability, and more (Goetzke and O\u2019Brien, 2026).<\/p>\n Set Up Your Pathways and Take Action. By choosing hope, instead of obsessing about problems in our world, we can see these problems as a menu of possibilities\u2014choose one goal to work on, then set up our pathways and begin taking action. During a recent freeze in SNAP benefits, my neighbors and I set our goal as a local food drive. For our pathways, we put canned goods in brown bags in front of our houses, and then one neighbor came by, picked them up, and took them to our local food bank. This provided food for people who needed it and brought our neighborhood together with a new sense of agency, realizing that we can make a difference.<\/p>\n Build Your Agency. You can build your agency by: <\/p>\n Visualizing yourself taking the steps to reach your goal The International Day of Hope Is July 12. You can build greater hope for yourself and our world by taking these steps: <\/p>\n Mindfully asking yourself how you\u2019re feeling about what\u2019s going on in the world, what you\u2019d like to see instead Motivation Essential Reads<\/p>\n By choosing hope, you can live with greater vitality and make a positive difference in the world. <\/p>\n _____________<\/p>\n
\nPathways or steps to reach our goals
\nAgency or motivation<\/a> (Snyder, 1994)<\/p>\n
\nWriting down three pathways\u2014steps to reach our goal\u2014followed by three obstacles we might encounter, and three alternative steps
\nStrengthening our agency by visualizing ourselves taking these steps, overcoming these obstacles, and reaching our goal (Feldman and Dreher, 2012).<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWhat would I like to be different?\u201d <\/p>\n
\nTaking care of your health\u2014getting enough sleep, healthy food, and exercise
\nRemembering a time you reached a goal in the past. Telling yourself \u201cI did that then. I can do this now.\u201d
\nConnecting with a friend and working on your goals together.
\nRepeating affirmations<\/a>: \u201cYes, we can!\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThen, setting a goal
\nNext, plan your pathways and begin taking them, one step at a time
\nBuilding your agency to keep moving forward<\/p>\n