How Can We Learn to Feel More Hopeful?
Learn to build hope, one day at a time.
Updated May 8, 2026 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk
When I started writing my latest book on hope, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to say. The world doesn’t exactly make hope feel easy these days. There always seems to be another headline reminding us of everything that is going wrong, another reason to feel uncertain about the future.
But as I sat with that feeling, I realised something important: Losing hope would mean deciding to stop trying, stop living, and stop enjoying life simply because problems exist. And I didn’t want to live that way.
The truth is, the world will always have its difficulties. There will always be uncertainty, change, and things we cannot control. But that doesn’t mean we have to lose ourselves to them. It doesn’t mean we stop looking for beauty, connection, meaning, or joy.
I believe every person has the ability to learn how to feel more hopeful. That is what led me to write Notes on Hope . I wanted to explore how we can build hope, nurture it, and reconnect with it in our everyday lives. Because hope is often much closer than we think.
So here is how you can begin:
1. Awaken yourself to the hope that already surrounds you.
When life feels heavy and hard, it’s easy to assume hope has disappeared. But it hasn’t. Perhaps it has simply become harder to see. Because hope doesn’t always arrive in big, obvious ways. Sometimes, it shows up quietly in the simplest moments of your day: a ray of sunshine appearing through a window, a moment of laughter with a loved one, or an act of kindness offered by a stranger. These moments may seem small and insignificant, but they’re not. They are reminders that not everything is lost.
The more you begin to notice these “little things,” the more they begin to matter. Not because everything has suddenly gone right, but because they remind you how much good there is to notice. This is the beauty of your mind: What you give your attention to grows. So give your attention to the good things.
2. Nurture the hope within you.
We cannot rely on the outside world to give us the hope we need. We can, however, rely on ourselves and the hope that lives within our inner world. Hope lives in your thoughts, your body, and in the way you treat yourself. When you speak to yourself with kindness, give your body what it needs, and listen to the yearnings of your heart, you create the conditions for hope to grow. On the contrary, when your inner environment feels critical or depleted, hope struggles to stay.
So speak to yourself like you would to a beloved friend. Give your body the rest it needs. Take slow, mindful breaths throughout your day. Make small, intentional choices that strengthen rather than drain you. The more supported you feel within yourself, the steadier hope becomes.
3. Believe in your ability to journey through life.
Believing in yourself, and in hope, doesn’t remove life’s challenges. But it makes it easier to journey through them. It means that whatever you are going through, you know you are not facing it alone because hope is there with you. It means trusting in your ability to move through uncertainty, even when you cannot yet see the full path ahead. You will still experience moments of confusion and doubt. You may still feel lost at times. But these moments no longer hold you back because you realise they are a part of being human. Often, they are part of finding your way.
Remind yourself that you have already faced things you once thought you could not handle. You have adapted before. You have survived difficult seasons before. You are still here because you kept going. Let that become evidence of your strength.
4. Trust the way your life unfolds.
Not everything can be predicted or controlled. In reality, very little can, and trying to force certainty often creates more tension than peace. Trusting life asks you to soften that need for control and allow things to unfold without having all the answers.
This doesn’t mean becoming passive or giving up on what you want. It means recognising that uncertainty is part of life, and that growth sometimes happens quietly, beneath the surface, before we can fully see it. Hope lives in this steady belief that things can shift and that you will find your way through.
Hope is often quieter than we expect it to be. It’s something you nurture and build through the way you see your life, care for yourself, move through challenges, and relate to the unknown. It doesn’t necessarily make life easier, but it can make the journey feel lighter and more meaningful. Because a life with hope is a life with light.
These words are paraphrased from the author's new book, Notes on Hope .
Newsonen, Susanna (2026). Notes on Hope . KDP. ISBN 9798252988290.
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Susanna Newsonen, MAPP, is a philosopher and writer. Her mission is to spread hope and love, one reader at a time.
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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.