Finding Hope: Ways Of Seeing Life In A Brighter Light

By Ronna Fay Jevne and James E. Miller

"It is hope which makes the shipwrecked sailor strike out with his arms in the midst of the sea, though no land is in sight."

OVID

Finding Hope is a rare gem, a book that makes a difference. I personally have gifted Finding Hope to more than 300 individuals. The book Finding Hope is big enough to change a life and small enough to travel with you everywhere. Finding Hope is useful for both the hopeful and the hope challenged. It plants the seeds of hopefulness even in those whose situations invite despair.
With gentle invitations, thoughtful reflections, and compelling images, Jevne & Miller invite us to new understandings about hope including how to foster hope in our own lives and how to invite others to do the same. Every page offers relevant, achievable strategies for finding and practicing hope.
Finding Hope is a great resource for students, patients, health care providers, caregivers, educators, and clergy. It is well received by individuals and great as a resource for short term group interventions.

Sharon L. Moore, PhD, RN, R. Psych.
Professor, Faculty of Health Disciplines
Athabasca University

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Feb 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9780228819868

Book preview

Finding Hope

Copyright © 2020 by Ronna Fay Jevne and James Miller

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

First edition 1999 Willowgreen Publishing

www.willowgreen.com

Second edition 2019 Prairie Wind Writing Centre

www.prairiewindwritingcentre.ca

Photo credit page 22 by bigstockphoto.com

Remaining photos by R. F. Jevne

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-1985-1 (Hardcover)

978-0-2288-1984-4 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-1986-8 (eBook)

Preface

We are delighted to publish a second edition of Finding Hope. Nearly two decades ago, Jim Miller initiated conversations that led to the first co-authored edition. In the intervening decades, the need for hope has, if anything, increased. Terrorism is now a common occurrence. Politically, the world has moved to more protectionist perspectives. Economically, employment is less secure. Personal relationships are less stable. The digital world has us texting rather than talking.

Yet, there are many signs of hope at many levels. More young people have access to education than ever before. Medical advances are stunning. Climate change has entered the realm of serious dialogue. Every community can point to incredible efforts to reduce human suffering. Although there is, at times a sense of new vulnerability, even in the realm of world peace, there is hope. Among others, we can thank Honourable Doug Roche for documenting our progress in that world arena. Hope is alive and well.

At the time of the release of the first edition of Finding Hope, hope was in the early stages of becoming a focus of academic study. What began as the Hope Foundation of Alberta has become Hope Studies Central under the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta (http://www.ualberta.ca/HOPE/). It continues to explore the nature and application of hope in numerous domains, including but not limited to health care and education. Scholars and practitioners world-wide have become passionate about this emerging field.

The strategies first espoused in Finding Hope were based on early research findings and continue to be valid, effective enhancers of hope. Finding Hope has found its way into class rooms and discussion groups of the young and the old. For example, Finding Hope has repeatedly been the resource for a hope group in an extended care centre and as a text for Hope and the Helping Relationship courses in numerous settings.

We wish to thank Jim Miller and Willowgreen Publishing (https://shop.willowgreen.com) for their cooperation in making this second edition possible.

To Dad, for your gift of vision and your years of caring, and to Glen, for your life of hope

and your years of friendship

and

to Mike, for being a living example of hope

through the years.

We are indebted to a number of people who assisted in various ways in the creation of this book. They include Clare Barton, Beth Beams, Chris Crawford, Sue Devito, Wendy Edey, Jim Gurnett, Carrie and Don Swanson, as well as the board, staff, and volunteers of the Hope Foundation of Alberta. We are each especially grateful to our spouses, Allen and Bernie, for their endless hours of discussion and their living proof of the power of hope. Thank you to Hal Martin for his encouragement and efforts to publish this second edition.

Table of Contents

Copyright

Forward

The dawning of hope

Throwing the hope switch

Noticing the signs of hope

Listening to the voices of hope

Looking back on hopefulness