Afraid To Hope

More than 160 MILLION people have viewed the widely popular Facebook video of Rick Rigsby speaking on the transformative power of hope. Now he shares these truths and more in his landmark book, "Afraid to Hope." You will discover how the dynamic power of hope has the capacity to transform every part of your life.

The Coronavirus pandemic has revealed a very big secret we’ve been keeping from ourselves and each other: We can be remarkably agile in the face of change. How is it that we are able to so radically and rapidly change our daily behavior in order to follow the social distancing and stay-at-home policies during the pandemic, and yet--pandemic or not--we typically find it difficult, if not impossible, to reach smaller personal goals like dieting, getting organized or changing destructive habits? The pandemic is life-threatening, so it ignites our survival instincts, activating that part of our brains charged with speedily and efficiently getting us to safety. But cholesterol, alcohol, and physical passivity are all life-threatening, and many of us humans have done a lousy job changing in regard to these issues, even when we have reliable information that they are killing us. Why do we struggle to change what would so obviously help ourselves individually? Ross Ellenhorn’s book, How we Change (and the Ten Reasons Why We Don’t) gives a fascinating answer. A clinician and thought leader in the mental health and addiction fields, he suggests that we’re often looking in the wrong direction when we try to decipher the factors that support human change. He suggests that it’s much more fruitful to look at why we don’t change, than figure out why we do. By looking at the reasons we don’t change, we give ourselves the best chance of actually changing in meaningful ways. Ellenhorn explains how we are wired to double down on the familiar because of what he calls the "Fear of Hope" - the act of protecting ourselves from further disappointment—and identifies the “10 Reasons Not to Change” to help us see why we behave the way we do when we are faced with the challenge of hope. Among them are: · To change means raising your expectations and thus risking that you’ll disappoint yourself. · Once you change, you are more accountable to make other changes than if you stayed the same · When you change, your future become much less predictable. · Change means destroying psychological monuments you’ve built to commemorate past injuries · Every time you change, you raise the possibility of losing or disrupting your relationship with certain people By addressing this little known reality of fear of hope, and how it influences the 10 Reasons Not to Change, Ellenhorn actually gives us hope, helping us to work toward the change we seek. Ellenhorn speaks to the core of our insecurities and fears about ourselves, with a humor and kindness. By turning our judgments about self-destructive behaviors into curious questions about them, he teaches us to think about our actions to discover what we truly want - even if we’re going about getting it in the wrong way. How We Change is a brilliant approach that will forever alter our perspective - and help us achieve the transformation we truly seek.

The Resurrection accounts of Jesus in the Gospels are the most dramatic and impactful stories ever told. One similarity unites each testimony--that none of his most loyal and steadfast followers could "see" it was him, back from the dead. The reason for this is at the very foundation of the Christian faith. She turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. (John 20:14) Hope in the Time of Fear is a book that unlocks the meaning of Jesus's resurrection for readers. Easter is considered the most solemn and important holiday for Christians. It is a time of spiritual rebirth and a time of celebrating the physical rebirth of Jesus after three days in the tomb. For his devoted followers, nothing could prepare them for the moment they met the resurrected Jesus. Each failed to recognize him. All of them physically saw him and yet did not spiritually truly see him. It was only when Jesus reached out and invited them to see who he truly was that their eyes were open. Here the central message of the Christian faith is revealed in a way only Timothy Keller could do it--filled with unshakable belief, piercing insight, and a profound new way to look at a story you think you know. After reading this book, the true meaning of Easter will no longer be unseen.

This book is a series of reflections about the journey of mankind toward their God, whether they believe or not. It is dedicated to the struggle of all who live their lives with love for their neighbor and do the best they can with what they are given. It is further dedicated to those non-believers who live a life of goodness with real concern for their fellow man. We are all on a journey, whether we want to admit it or not. We only have so much time to accomplish what needs to be done. But in the end, only one thing matters. We are to be united with our loving God for all eternity. The bulk of the book concerns the promise that America holds for all people. In no way are the reflections intended to belittle any group that is true and honest in their efforts to help its followers achieve the goal of unity with God. The intention of the author is to provide some insight to the problems we face as a people. The problems are many, but first and foremost we must have the same interests for others that we have for ourselves. All of the problems we face have the same root. Thus far in our civilizations we have had much education and instruction. Much of this knowledge has lead to misunderstanding and has not addressed the root of our problems. The root is that we are not capable to love others as we love ourselves. If we do not address the root of the problem, then we will not be better off tomorrow than we are today or were yesterday. ‘NOTHING WILL CHANGE FOR THE BETTER’.

This book scrutinises ‘peace’ and ‘war' through Australian lenses. It uncovers a deeper understanding of these terms and reflects a desire to bring to light alternative Australian ideas of war and peacemaking. Certain stories have eclipsed others that add importantly to Australia’s history. This Quaker initiative considers a plurality of voices and the ‘truths’ they purport. It unpacks the act of ‘memorialising' to discover the marked impact we make in our efforts to hold on to meaning and to our past. What have been the effects of our responses to the maxim ’Lest we forget’?

“[A] landmark book . . . Solnit illustrates how the uprisings that begin on the streets can upend the status quo and topple authoritarian regimes” (Vice). A book as powerful and influential as Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me, her Hope in the Dark was written to counter the despair of activists at a moment when they were focused on their losses and had turned their back to the victories behind them—and the unimaginable changes soon to come. In it, she makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable. Drawing on her decades of activism and a wide reading of environmental, cultural, and political history, Solnit argues that radicals have a long, neglected history of transformative victories, that the positive consequences of our acts are not always immediately seen, directly knowable, or even measurable, and that pessimism and despair rest on an unwarranted confidence about what is going to happen next. Now, with a moving new introduction explaining how the book came about and a new afterword that helps teach us how to hope and act in our unnerving world, she brings a new illumination to the darkness of our times in an unforgettable new edition of this classic book. “One of the best books of the 21st century.” —The Guardian “No writer has better understood the mix of fear and possibility, peril and exuberance that’s marked this new millennium.” —Bill McKibben, New York Times–bestselling author of Falter “An elegant reminder that activist victories are easily forgotten, and that they often come in extremely unexpected, roundabout ways.” —The New Yorker

Discusses the basic psychological principles of interpersonal relationships.