Thank you to our sponsor, Audible. Get your free month of Audible Premium Plus at https://www.audibletrial.com/VxVNWj

Use this link to get 10% off in our merch store: https://itmattersmerch.etsy.com?coupon=ITMATTERS10

“It Matters How We Treat One Another” is the social science show - now in its third season! Here, host Matthew David Vasko discusses all the various ways that we can improve our relationships with others - partners, children, parents, extended family, friends, coworkers, and all the different types of people with whom we share our beautiful and diverse world. Features include Inspiring News and The Quote of the Week. Find our premium content on our Patreon, including The Takeaway.

Season 3, Episode 13, Topic: Tools & Techniques for Keeping Hope Alive

This episode is dedicated to hope, and more specifically the many things we all can do to help keep hope alive for the sake of our own wellbeing.

Core Definitions

• Optimism: A temperament-based expectation that things will work out; fragile under sustained adversity

• Hope (Snyder): The intersection of goals, perceived pathways, and personal agency; does not require certainty

• Active Hope (Joanna Macy): Hope as a practice, not a feeling — chosen and cultivated regardless of circumstance

• Radical Hope (Jonathan Lear): Hope directed toward a good that cannot yet be fully imagined or articulated

• The Stockdale Paradox (Jim Collins): Holding two truths simultaneously — unflinching honesty about difficulty + unshakeable conviction that you will prevail

The Six Practical Tools

1. Curate your information diet — protect your hope reservoir

1. Pursue micro-wins — restore your sense of agency

2. The Stockdale Practice — hold both truths at once

3. Radical presence + the Best Possible Self exercise (Laura King) — rebuild the mental architecture of hope

4. Use the “yet” factor — refuse finality in your self-talk

5. Choose connection — hope is contagious and is rarely a solo project

Listener Challenge

Carry out one act of connection or bridge-building before the next episode: a real conversation, a volunteer hour, a letter, or a moment of genuine curiosity with someone whose life looks different from yours.

Suggested Further Reading

• Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation — Jonathan Lear (Harvard University Press)

• Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re In Without Going Crazy — Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone

• Hope in the Dark — Rebecca Solnit

• Good to Great — Jim Collins (Stockdale Paradox chapter)

• The Psychology of Hope — Charles R. Snyder

Show links:

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ItMattersHowWeTreatOneAnother/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ItMattersHowWeTreatOneAnother/

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ItMattersMerch

Patreon: http://patreon.com/ItMattersPatrons

Podcast website: https://it-matters.captivate.fm/

Host Matthew David Vasko’s website: https://matthewvasko.com/

Intro/Outro/Interstitial music by Z19: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvfnVgE2H20vJQN4Yl7gbtA

“It Matters How We Treat One Another” is a production of Meta Key Productions, all rights reserved.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call 988 for the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (in the United States).

The information shared on this show is meant for general educational purposes only. Please consult with a licensed professional before making any life-altering decisions. Listener/viewer assumes all responsibility for any actions taken as a result of consuming this content. Any application of suggestions made on this show is taken at the listener/viewer's sole risk.

Thank you to our sponsor, Audible. Get your free month of Audible Premium Plus at https://www.audibletrial.com/VxVNWj

Use this link to get 10% off in our merch store: https://itmattersmerch.etsy.com?coupon=ITMATTERS10

“It Matters How We Treat One Another” is the social science show - now in its third season! Here, host Matthew David Vasko discusses all the various ways that we can improve our relationships with others - partners, children, parents, extended family, friends, coworkers, and all the different types of people with whom we share our beautiful and diverse world. Features include Inspiring News and The Quote of the Week. Find our premium content on our Patreon, including The Takeaway.

Season 3, Episode 12, Guest: Erin Wiley, Topic: Coping with Overwhelm.

Erin Wiley MA, LPCC. Her therapy clients describe Erin as friendly, upbeat, motivational, supportive, and a strategic & creative problem solver. Erin’s therapy style is energetic, caring, solution-focused, straightforward, and research-based. Erin earned her Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling from Bowling Green State University. Before founding The Willow Center, Erin worked as a therapist in a group private practice in Sylvania, Ohio.

Erin’s dream to create The Willow Center started even before she began graduate school. Recognizing the ways in which therapy had been instrumental in positively changing the lives of people around her, as well as her own life, she envisioned a therapy center where clients of all ages could partner with the best clinicians in the area to create the kind of change they want in their lives.

Erin has extensive experience counseling men and women, teenagers, married couples, and families. She has experience with the LGBTQ community, and has specific training in couples’ counseling; she is also trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and EMDR (a therapy technique that helps clients resolve issues and negative beliefs from their past that may be holding them back today). Her goal as a therapist is to train, support, and empower her clients, despite difficulties and limitations, to live their best life.

Show links:

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ItMattersHowWeTreatOneAnother/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ItMattersHowWeTreatOneAnother/

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ItMattersMerch

Patreon: http://patreon.com/ItMattersPatrons

Podcast website: https://it-matters.captivate.fm/

Host Matthew David Vasko’s website: https://matthewvasko.com/

Intro/Outro/Interstitial music by Z19: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvfnVgE2H20vJQN4Yl7gbtA

“It Matters How We Treat One Another” is a production of Meta Key Productions, all rights reserved.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call 988 for the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (in the United States).

The information shared on this show is meant for general educational purposes only. Please consult with a licensed professional before making any life-altering decisions. Listener/viewer assumes all responsibility for any actions taken as a result of consuming this content. Any application of suggestions made on this show is taken at the listener/viewer's sole risk.

Thank you to our sponsor, Audible. Get your free month of Audible Premium Plus at https://www.audibletrial.com/VxVNWj

Use this link to get 10% off in our merch store: https://itmattersmerch.etsy.com?coupon=ITMATTERS10

“It Matters How We Treat One Another” is the social science show - now in its third season! Here, host Matthew David Vasko discusses all the various ways that we can improve our relationships with others - partners, children, parents, extended family, friends, coworkers, and all the different types of people with whom we share our beautiful and diverse world. Features include Inspiring News and The Quote of the Week. Find our premium content on our Patreon, including The Takeaway.

Season 3, Episode 11, Topic: From Overwhelm to Action. Moving ourselves from a sense of overwhelm with all that is happening in the world to taking action to create positive change where we can.

Cited Resources:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey — Circle of Concern and Circle of Influence

https://www.idealist.org/ — Find local volunteer opportunities near you

Your local city council, school board, and neighborhood council websites

https://5calls.org/ — Find your representatives, get scripts, and make your five calls this week

Show links:

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ItMattersHowWeTreatOneAnother/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ItMattersHowWeTreatOneAnother/

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ItMattersMerch

Patreon: http://patreon.com/ItMattersPatrons

Podcast website: https://it-matters.captivate.fm/

Host Matthew David Vasko’s website: https://matthewvasko.com/

Intro/Outro/Interstitial music by Z19: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvfnVgE2H20vJQN4Yl7gbtA

“It Matters How We Treat One Another” is a production of Meta Key Productions, all rights reserved.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call 988 for the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (in the United States).

The information shared on this show is meant for general educational purposes only. Please consult with a licensed professional before making any life-altering decisions. Listener/viewer assumes all responsibility for any actions taken as a result of consuming this content. Any application of suggestions made on this show is taken at the listener/viewer's sole risk.