Some might read that and frown. “What do you mean hopelessness helps?” Others may read it as they nod their head with a smirk in agreement thinking, “Been there.”

Being at the point of hopelessness is different for everyone. For some, it is a place they remember visiting when something sad or traumatic happened. Many have found their flow. They can assure you that it is actually their starting point of return.

Hopelessness is the Path

When we head so far into hopelessness, we may believe we’re in a dark place because it is. However, once we meander into the darkness we find what we’ve been looking for, hope. Hope does come out of the dark shadows but we need to do three things. First, sit in it with no fight. Second, become aware of our surroundings. Third, have an understanding that as we decide to flow in the dark, we find our flow of hope.

As any disruption or negative energy comes into our force field, it’s important that we sit in it. Whether we initiated it or not, we must become aware of our surroundings while we sense the depth of our hopeless feeing. Because being in the darkness triggers the fight or flight reaction, many run from their darkness only to return over and over. It’s when you sit in it do you notice it is actually the path to take in order to find the light again. Once we become brave enough to actually flow within the darkness as if to board a canoe, we begin to understand the change of heart.

Stopping the Struggle

This change of heart is our understanding that we are face to face with our God, Universe or Divine. This is the point where we stop the struggle and surrender. We don’t surrender as if to give up on our selves, but we stop fighting against the change. When we locate hopelessness, it is a time to stop fighting and let the change occur. Whatever happened is done and over. Once we end the fight, we can see the sadness for what it is. This doesn’t take away from its importance in our life. It is a time to look at the occurrence and breathe.

Sometimes this might be the mistreatment from someone or the death of a loved one. By ending the struggle of yelling with words, we can be aware of the actual event. At this time we can begin to embrace the sadness by holding it in our arms as we step into the canoe of flow.

The Magic Begins

Now comes the magic. Because we no longer struggle, we are put back on track. Since we stopped to sit in it, we have become aware that hopelessness is really coming face to face with God. As we begin to relax through the flow, we see how our breakdown in hopelessness needed to happen. Some might say it’s a way of reaching the bottom of our hopes. When in actuality, we can begin to hope again.

As I heard the news of my father’s death on a text, it upset me. This is not the way I wanted to hear the news. When I wasn’t able to live in the social convention of a funeral in order to say good bye, I dropped into this well of hopelessness. While I pretended to others that I was ok, I wasn’t. My nights became the time where the fighting and struggling in my hopelessness occurred.

The Path to Hope

Only when I reached the bottom where I became still did I feel my strength again. Right at the end of my fight with the universe for taking my father and leaving me in such a sad predicament did I begin to see that I needed to scream my way out of the darkness of feeling hopeless.

At last when I realized I had to get to this point in order to find hope again, I noticed how easily my canoe began to flow. I realized I needed to get to hopelessness and travel through it in order to find my hope once more.

Hope is Found

Some have struggles in a marriage or with other family members. Others struggle that things didn’t turn out in life the way they wanted. As we become ok with the new outcome and become still, we can feel our canoe beginning to push off from the sandy edge and back into the current. Meanwhile, time passes and we find ourselves in the same feeling of hopelessness. But now a smile comes to our face because we know we are on the path of hope once more.

**Below is a link to an interview of Matt Kahn with Liz Donahue. He explains how to find hope so beautifully.

https://www.facebook.com/1288801006/videos/10224848319617147/