Recently I was trying out an experiment with 2 of my hamsters. I put a piece of their favorite dried fruit at the top and furthest end of the cage, which is quite difficult to reach. Both hamsters were trying to reach for it, after a short period of time, one got tired and give up, giving the fruit a stare that it’s no use, no matter how hard I try, I wouldn’t be able to get it – it’s no use trying. The other hamster was still trying to figure on how she could reach it by trying every other ways, and finally, she got the fruit and was enjoying her labor of success. When the other hamster saw her eating the fruit, he wanted a piece of it too, but thinking that there is no way he is getting up there, he simply throw tantrum, despise the other hamster’s success, and crawl back into his ‘cave’, and stay sulking.
This is Peter Ng. Welcome to my motivational series ‘Awakening the Power within You’ – HOPE: The Key for Success.
One of the best quotes which I repeated speak to myself everyday is by Reinhold Niebuhr “God, give us the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that can be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.”
Some of the things that are important to you may be beyond your area of influence. Music may be an important part of your life, and you may dream of singing on Broadway. But if you sing like a bullfrog with laryngitis, it’s unlikely that you will be able to will your way into a Broadway role. But that doesn’t put music appreciation beyond your area of influence. You can enjoy going to performances, and you can learn the lyrics and sing along in the privacy of your home. You can also learn to play an instrument.
You may face many limitations that you can do nothing about. That doesn’t mean giving up. It means directing your efforts toward the situations you can influence and not wasting your energy on things beyond your control or things that of no importance.
Accepting the things you can’t change doesn’t mean that you surrender to circumstances. Proactive people constantly look for ways to succeed in spite of the circumstances. Reactive people are likely to go through life complaining about their circumstances. They focus on things they can do nothing about and ignore the things that are within their circle of influence.
Having HOPE is the key to success and an important aspect of life. No, not the kind of hope to strike the jackpot or lottery; not the hopeless kind of hope. The HOPE here is an acronym for:
Health – Nutrition; Physical; & Mental
Opportunities – Creating New Opportunities
Positive Perceptions and Expectations
Eliminate Negative Emotions
One great book I read defines ‘Hope’ as the ‘confidence positive expectations of good things to come.’
Health: My main focus here will be mental health, as you are in control of what goes into your head – the books you read, the TV you watched, the friends you keep. If you gravitate towards positive people and issues, your confidence will be higher, but if you are in-company with negative people, the tendency is that you will be negatively influenced.
Opportunities: People who said they are waiting for the right opportunity to come, they can wait forever. Because the right opportunity is now; opportunity is everywhere and anywhere. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Life is constant sowing of seeds, and you will never know which seeds reap you high returns.
Positive Perceptions and Expectations: We are like a giant magnetic, the more positive we are the more positive things we attract to our lives.
Eliminate Negative Emotions: The phrase ‘I can’t’ is the most powerful force of negation in the human psyche.
Life is determined more by our reactions than by our actions. The fact that it is not what life hands you but how you respond to it, mentally and physically, that matters most. Staying in your ‘cave’ to sulk won’t change any of the circumstances. Put HOPE into your life! 
