Fit Soul Chapter 18 - Hope

Hey, it's Ben Greenfield. Welcome to chapter 18 of Fit Soul Book. Every week I release to you a chapter from my from my book Fit Soul, which you can get for free@fitsoulbook.com in both digital and physical version. We're in Chapter 18 already. Chapter 18 Chapter 18 Hope oh, how complex is the ever evolving world of self Quantification? In chapter 15, I tackled the world of wearables and the importance of knowing how to unplug from our rings, wristbands, ankle bracelets, chips, watches and miniature body computers to instead listen to the oh so subtle cues from our body and its innate intelligence. But beyond these computerized devices is an entirely different realm, that softer science of blood and biomarker testing. I've exhaustively tackled that topic in the past in my book Boundless and in a host of articles that I'll link to on the resources page for this chapter@fitzsoulbook. That's fitsoulbook.com Chapter 18 and I highlight the importance, should you be concerned about your overall health and longevity, of tracking variables like inflammation, glycemic variability, hormones, lipids, ketones, your genes, microbiome, and more. Yet, of all the varying and ever expanding forms of self quantification that exists, there's one single asset you can possess that's far more crucial to your overall health and longevity than your hdl, your testosterone, your ketones, your step count, your grip strength, or any other quantifiable variable. And that is hope. The Importance of Hope in the realm of secular psychology, hope is defined as a motivation to persevere towards a goal or end state. Even when you may be skeptical that a positive outcome is likely, it often involves proactive progress towards a goal, a can do attitude, and a belief that you have some kind of achievable pathway to a desired outcome. But as a Christian, I tend to lean towards preferring pastor and author John Piper's definition of hope. Just a bit better than the one I just outlined. Piper says hope is a heartfelt, joyful conviction that our short term future is governed by an all caring God and our long term future beyond death will be happy beyond imagination in the presence of an all satisfying glory of God. How much more meaningful and hopeful life can be when we believe that our story has a great author, rather than believing that everything we see and experience is meaningless and without purpose, or that we're just a bunch of chunks of spiritless flesh and blood floating through space on a giant rock, then eventually dying and passing away into nothingness. It turns out that very similar to what we know about the human science of a gratitude practice and what we know about the power of having a purpose statement in life. The physical and psychological impact of the emotion of hope is also quite impressive. For example, one study from Harvard's Human Flourishing Program examined the impact of hope on nearly 13,000 people and found those with more hope in their lives had superior physical health, better overall health behaviors, increased social support and a longer life, along with fewer chronic health problems, less depression and anxiety, and a lower risk of cancer. Long term. Studies of employee well being suggest that hopeful employees experience more well being, and in one Gallup poll of 1 million students, 1 million those who are more hopeful laughed and smiled much more often than the hopeless and also engaged in healthier behaviors like more fruit and vegetable consumption, regular exercise, and less smoking. In his book the anatomy of hope, Dr. Jerome Grootman, professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, tells extraordinary stories of hope in coping with conventionally hopeless diseases and suffering. He demonstrates that on a biological level, hope may stimulate the release of internal painkiller molecules. Hope not only changes us physically but also psychologically. Hope empowers us to endure greater amounts of suffering in times of crisis or survival. Even a small glimpse of hope can infuse greater endurance and strength into our daily circumstances. It produces opportunity and proactiveness because when you live with the expectation that positive changes are on the horizon, you can open yourself up to a world of new possibilities fueled by confidence that a new way of life is possible. Rather than being paralyzed fear of an unknown, dark, or scary future, hope brings forth purpose and vision, infuses joy and happiness, and gives us a glimpse in our weary lives that, as the famous Christian song O holy night goes, yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. One could argue that the opposite of hope is helplessness. For example, in a series of 1965 experiments you may be familiar with, researcher Martin Seligman discovered learned helplessness when he observed animals subjected to difficult situations they couldn't control. We'll stop trying to escape and instead become submissive and passive. In the book version of what you're listening to, I have a helpful illustration to show an example of such a study. But in summary, dogs are in an electrified cage at first, not able to escape impending shock. Later, all they have to do is cross either side to escape the shock. But they don't even try. See, the dogs learn they were helpless to avoid the shock, so they just sit there and take the shock without trying to escape. And human beings are the same if we experience devastating defeats, a persistent situation we can't change, or a terrifying event we can't control. Control our exposure to we often lose hope for our ability to change this painful situation. Apathy sets in. We don't try to get a job, make friends, eat healthier, leave a partner who may be abusive, or engage in other efforts to proactively make life better. We tend to see any efforts to change our lives as largely futile. We accept whatever happens as beyond our control. We begin to despair. After all, why bother? It won't really make a difference. We don't want to risk the pain of further disappointment by even trying. Unfortunately, that despair and resignation can become a self fulfilling negative cycle. If you have no hope that any action you take will make any difference, then that often very well is the actual outcome. So let me ask you which would you rather have, hope or helplessness? How to Hope now that you understand the immense importance of waking up each day with not only a strong sense of purpose and gratitude, but also a deep sense of hope, how can you best tap into this powerful emotion? Well, I've got a few good tips for discovering more hope in your life, particularly when you're in a bit of a funk or feeling down. First, consider all the amazing things you've done in your life. In other words, remember past positive experiences, which I would consider to tie closely to a daily practice of gratitude. Or at least to be far easier when you're able to crack open the pages of a gratitude journal and see what you've written on previous days. Next, surround yourself with optimism. Try to hang out with people who persistently see the bright side of things and the sunny side of every situation, who always have a smile and a positive attitude. Next, surround yourself with inspiration. Pipe uplifting music into your home. Allow sun to constantly be seeping in through the windows. Engage in exposure to fresh air and nature immersion. Seep yourself with aromatherapy via uplifting scents like peppermint rose or cinnamon. Surround yourself with inspirational memes, quotes and artwork on your walls and screensavers, you'd be surprised at how simple environmental tweaks can produce a near instant positive impact on your mood. Next, write down a plan. If there are changes that need to be made in your life, like a new workout plan to get through an injury, a new weekly schedule to free up time for a new project you've been neglecting, or a book reading schedule to get through a new series you've been wanting to read, then you must understand that being able to see how the steps you are taking will lead to desired change is critical to producing hope. So write down each step that you need to take to get where you want to be. Next. Check out project hopeexchange.com that's projecthopeexchange.com It's a website where people record their experiences of overcoming adversity. And there's a special section for mental health challenges and life challenges. It turns out there's many people who have overcome tremendous adversity. Reading their stories and surrounding yourself with the supportive messages you'll find there can help you build hope. Next, take every step you can. Do what you know you can do when you're in despair. Taking one tiny step forward can break any sense of hopelessness you may have. Feeling depressed or hopeless about the day? Make your bed. Cook breakfast. Meditate for five minutes. Call a friend. Take the small steps you know you can take. One common piece of wisdom, for example, in wilderness survival and a common trait in those who survive through very difficult survival conditions is that they're constantly taking tiny steps to make their situation just a little bit better, no matter how small those steps may be. Next, Help others Performing acts of kindness can have a dramatic effect on your mood and outlook. Kindness triggers the release of serotonin, so it can produce an antidepressant effect and similar to what you'll experience with a gratitude practice. An increased sense of empathy in your own life can help to calm stress, reduce pain, and increase hope. Finally, the biggest tip I can give you for finding hope is to embrace faith and to engage with a religious or spiritual community. Since the dawn of time, it's repeatedly been shown that when surrounded by a community of like minded and supportive believers, people have drawn strength, found peace, and experienced an overall elevation of positive well being fueled by the hope of knowing there is something or someone much larger than them, watching over and protecting them along each step of lives. Winding Path While many would scoff at the belief that there are gods and demons, spirits and angels, and even one single almighty Creator of the planet, research has shown a connection between longevity and faith. One study analyzed the relationship between religious practice, stress and death in middle age and controlled for socioeconomic factors, health insurance status and healthy lifestyle behaviors. The study found that churchgoers have a significantly lower risk of dying. And after adjusting for age, sex, race and chronic medical conditions, churchgoers were 46% less likely to die in the follow up period after the study compared to non churchgoers. Non churchgoers, meanwhile, had significantly higher rates of blood pressure and higher ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol, along with a significantly higher mortality rate. It turns out that data from the blue zones, areas with a disproportionately high number of healthy so called centenarians backs this up. All but five of the 263 centenarians that author Dan Buettner interviewed for the book belong to some kind of faith based community. Research also shows that attending faith based services 4 times per month can add 4 to 14 years of life expectancy in all blue zones. Centenarians were part of some religious community. I can't sum it up any better than Buettner who concluded that people who pay attention to their spiritual side have lower rates of cardiovascular disease, depression, stress and suicide and their immune systems seem to work better. To a certain extent, adherence to a religion allows them to relinquish the stresses of everyday life to a higher power. In the Bible, which is of course a perfect example of a highly valued source of absolute truth for many faith based communities, 1st Peter 5. 7 recommends us to cast all our cares upon him. Being able to cast my own cares and trust in and talk to a higher power buttressed by the support and encouragement of others who are also believers is certainly something that has given me personally a great deal of hope, confidence, clarity, peace and direction in life. When it comes to your own health, I'm convinced that a religious practice that includes disciplines such as fasting, meditation, prayer, silence, solitude, worship and study is magnitudes more meaningful and impactful than a salad of herbs and wild plants, a glass of organic wine, or a megadose of sunshine and fresh air. Of course, this entire faith healing and hope trilogy is all supported by the underlying science behind the biology of belief and the impact of emotional states on your flesh and bones that I taught you about in chapter 14. To discover this hope, read about the Hero's journey in chapter nine of this book, fit soul book@fitsouebook.com and begin to understand the vast significance of being able to, without any sense of shame or judgment, cast every last care and both the lightest and heaviest of burdens upon him. John Piper describes this flavor of hope as a vibrant, living, unshakable blood bought hope that is the defining motion of the Christian heart and gives rise to joyful fearlessness in the face of human trouble and threats. So when you discover a hope that's epic in your life and it's planted like a flourishing, fragrant flower within the garden of your heart, you'll find that every other form of self quantification pales in terms of being able to predict your health and lifespan, nothing is more important. Furthermore, if you've already discovered that hope and you wish to share a defense for the hope that is within you, I recommend you read the book Always Directions for Defending the Faith by Greg Bonson. That book is a good compilation of several of his published works on Christian apologetics, including his apologetic syllabus, articles on practical apologetic problems like the Problem Evil, the problem of miracles, etc. It will allow you to better share your hope with others who have yet to discover the intense meaning in life derived from a strong sense of hope and help you to fulfill the words of 1st Peter 3:15 in the Bible which says always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. Now, how about you? Do you have hope in your life? If so, how do you feed the fire of the hope that is within you? Are you able to share an answer to others about the source of the hope that is within you? In the same way that you can consider hope to be your fuel for your spiritual journey, you can consider union with God to be the source of strength for that journey. In the next chapter, I'm going to teach you how to pair hope with union. In the meantime, for resources, references, links and additional reading and listening material for this chapter, you can Visit fitsoulbook.com Chapter 18 that's fitsoulbook.com Chapter 1 8.