"If we continue to pursue hope, then we had best become a producer of it, rather than a consumer of it."

Peter Block

I had a revelation today.

My mind was churning and burning, as I like to say, having it's way with me -- spitting out all kinds of fearful thoughts.

And then it hit me . . .

I REFUSE to participate in my fear!

Think about that!

Fear is a habit.

It is not truth.

We get to decide what is true for us.

We decide what defines us.

Hope is a source of scarcity when it keeps us from doing what we CAN do.

When hope is a prison, an immobilizer, it is passive. It involves waiting for other people or events to fix something for us, to solve a problem so we don't have to.

People who find themselves longing or wishing for things to be different, but don't take responsibility to make things different, are caught in the Illusion of Hope.

Hope becomes an excuse to play small.

When hope is a source of abundance, it is active. It is made real by consistent action -- doing what you CAN do.

Hope is real when you refuse to participate in your fear.

Will you feed the fear monster, or starve it?

When hope is real, you are a catalyst in the world.

Every time you choose your fear over your greatness, you deprive the world of your greatness.

Remember what Mother Teresa said: "I never look at the masses as my responsibility; I look at the individual. I can only love one person at a time - just one, one one. So you begin. I began - I picked up one person. Maybe if I didn't pick up that one person, I wouldn't have picked up forty-two THOUSAND . . . Just begin - one, one, one."

What can you do today to be a producer of hope?