Your Daily Dose of Hope

Latest Episodes:

Hope in Everyday Experiences EP 80 May 09, 2025

Show notes

Hope doesn’t always arrive with trumpets or grand announcements. More often, it shows up quietly—like the first light slipping through the curtains after a long night.

You might recognize hope in a deep breath before a difficult conversation. In the moment someone offers kindness without expecting anything in return. In the way a child believes tomorrow will be better, just because.

Sometimes hope looks like getting out of bed even when your heart is heavy. Other times, it's daring to dream again after a setback. It's in the laughter you didn’t expect, the idea that won’t leave you alone, or the simple fact that you're still showing up—still trying.

Hope is in the decision to ask for help instead of suffering in silence. It's in the way we plant seeds in a garden before the last frost is gone. It's in the quiet choice to try one more time—at healing, at creating, at connecting.

Hope isn’t blind optimism. It’s the courage to believe that change is possible, even when you can’t see the full path yet. It’s not about pretending things are perfect—it’s about trusting that better is still within reach.

So today, pause for a moment. Look around. You may be more surrounded by hope than you think.

Crumbs of Hope EP 79 May 07, 2025

Show notes

Hope has holes in it’s pockets. It leaves little crumb trails that we, when anxious, can follow it. Hope secret: it doesn’t know the destination it only knows that all roads begin with one foot in front of the other.

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

I love the idea that there are crumb trails of hope don’t you? It’s such a great mental visual that reminds me we find hope when we look for it. There’s always something that will be there for you when you need it, if you are willing to look.

The poem also reminds us that hope is an active thing. It often requires action, a metaphorical step forward from where we are towards where we want to be.

Hope is Good for Your Mental Health EP 78 May 06, 2025

Show notes

Mental Health Awareness Month, observed in May, is celebrated to increase awareness about mental health and wellness, reduce stigma, and promote support for those affected by mental illness. It provides a national platform to educate the public, advocate for better policies, and encourage open conversations about mental health.

I am not a mental health expert, but I know that hopefulness helps our mental health so I want to share a few things that mental health experts want us to know and be aware of.

• Increased Awareness:

The month aims to raise public understanding of mental health issues, including their prevalence, impact, and potential for prevention.

• Reducing Stigma:

By openly discussing mental health, the stigma associated with mental illness is reduced, encouraging individuals to seek help without fear of judgment.

• Promoting Support:

Mental Health Awareness Month provides opportunities for individuals and organizations to offer support to those struggling with mental health challenges.

• Advocacy for Better Policies:

The month serves as a catalyst for advocacy, encouraging policy changes that prioritize mental health care and access.

• Celebrating Recovery:

Mental Health Awareness Month also recognizes the progress and resilience of individuals who have recovered from mental illness. In the US 1 in 4 of us will experience a diagnosable mental health disorder this year and 50% will have have a mental health disorder in our lifetimes.

What's One Hopeful Thing You Can Do Today? EP 77 May 05, 2025

Show notes

I want to talk about recognizing what makes you feel hopeful, in good times, in everyday moments and yes, in those times when you are frustrated or sad or worried. We all know that our thoughts determine our feelings, but many times it feels the other way around. In moments of sadness or distress it can feel like my brain is in a loop of one worrying thought after another.

There are legitimately challenging things that happen in life and pretending that things are okay when they aren’t, isn’t helpful or healthy, but neither is catastrophizing and thinking about the worst-case scenario either.

I talked the other day about having a list of hopeful things you can turn to, and this is another take on that idea. What’s one thing you can do when you need a bit of hope?

How a One-Sentence Daily Journal Inspires Hope EP 76 May 02, 2025

Show notes

I recently read a book about a midwife from the 18th century who kept a journal and the entries were often 2 or 3 sentences at the end of each day it a shorthand summary style.

Example: Cold today. Checked that Dolly’s fever is gone. I was home.

And that made me think of modern day bullet journaling.

I’ve tried it but it didn’t work for me but now I have a new idea and it could be a great recording of hope. We know it’s a renewable resource – so what if writing once sentence at the end of each day make it easier to be filled with hope?

Daily Gratitude’s

Growth Moments - Track instances where you stepped outside your comfort zone or overcame a challenge.

Future Dreams – Dreaming on a daily basis is a great way to keep looking at what’s possible a key element of hope.

Acts of Kindness – You could log those you do for others – imagine what a world it would be if we were all making sure we did one act of kindness every day so our journal wouldn’t be empty.

Small Victories – A game-changer if you have to acknowledge one thing each day that you did well.

Something Beautiful – just thinking about doing this made me smile. Will I have multiple entries about my cats or the hummingbirds – probably!

Summoning Courage – this one I want to think about because my first instinct was to say – I can be courageous everyday – can I? Can you?

A Hopeful Moment – this is what these recordings do for me right now – it makes me think about hope, and why and how it keeps showing up. What if you did the same?

Even a few minutes each day spent reflecting on the positive can significantly shift your perspective over time. I hope you’ll pick one and start – maybe challenge yourself to try this for 10 days and then see how you feel?

Hope, kindness, gratitude, courage – all renewable and never-ending resources for us to use.

Your Tomorrow Self Wants You To Do This EP 75 May 01, 2025

Show notes

I’m sure you are familiar with the concept of your tomorrow self. I use this little trick when I really need to take care of something I’d rather avoid or do something I don’t want to do.

Reminding myself that tomorrow Phyllis will be really happy it’s done, is a good way to stop procrastinating and get it done. It’s crazy how I can dread something that ends up not really taking that long.

Lots of wasted mental energy there!

Recently I was looking through some old journals and planners where I keep notes on clients, things I need to do and general reflections of what’s going on at the time. I flipped through a few and there were notes on things that at the time felt really hard, or were causing me lots of anxiety – and looking back with the gift of reflection I can see that things generally worked out.

That’s when the lightbulb moment hit me – What am I obsessing about now that will not be that big a deal to future Phyllis? Maybe not tomorrow me, but me in a couple years or so. Can I see how I might be allowing something to take up more mental anxiety than is necessary?

Hope Beyond Always and Never EP 74 May 01, 2025

Show notes

It’s okay to let go of always and never.

Not much in life is that consistent. Sometimes I think our desire to have calm, predictable days and weeks leads us to fight against the always things that don’t show up or to not acknowledge the never things that do.

Hope Beyond "Always" and "Never"

In a world of uncertainty, we cling to absolutes. "This always happens" or "that never works out." These rigid beliefs offer the illusion of control but often leave us frustrated when reality refuses to conform.

Hope operates differently. It doesn't demand guarantees or perfect patterns. Instead, it thrives in the spaces between absolutes—finding possibility where certainty fails.

When we embrace hope, we release ourselves from the tyranny of "always" and "never." We understand that today's failure doesn't predict tomorrow's outcome.

Hope whispers: "Things change. Patterns break. Exceptions exist."

This isn't blind optimism but a clear-eyed acknowledgment that life's complexity defies absolute rules. The friend who "always" cancels might surprise you. The promotion that "never" comes could be around the corner.

By trading rigid certainties for hopeful possibilities, we find freedom. We respond to life's unpredictability not with frustration but with curiosity. We remain open to the exceptions that break every rule.

In the end, hope doesn't eliminate disappointment—it simply places it within a larger story that hasn't finished unfolding. And in that unfinished space, we find the courage to try again.

Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use. Wendell Johnson

Here’s to letting hope fill in when things aren’t certain, leaving room for what’s truly possible.

Your Personal List of Hope EP 73 Apr 29, 2025

Show notes

Today I want to do something a bit different. Each day I want to share something that will help you find hope or remain hopeful or possible share hope with someone else.

It’s a renewable resource after all and we know it grows the more we share it with others.

Today I want to suggest creating your personal hope list. Use your phone or something easy – don’t make this a big project. It’s best if you go with what comes to you right away.

Who and what in your life keeps you hopeful or gives you hope?

Put it on the list. Be generous, no one else will see this – this is just for you.

I’m going to share 3 things from my list, just for inspiration to help you get started.

Hope is Remembering and Looking Ahead EP 72 Apr 28, 2025

Show notes

3 years ago, my younger brother passed away. He’d been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer just 3.5 years earlier. I

He never gave up hope. In fact, he packed a ton of living in those years even with 2 surgeries and regular chemo treatments.

I miss him of course, and I wish he was still here and also appreciate his enthusiasm for life and his desire to be clear-eyed about what was most important to him.

As sad as those hospice days were, they also gave me hope. I’m sharing this because it’s an act of hope to live – to show up and do what makes you happy – to let the people in your life know how much that matter to you –

It’s an act of hope to plan for the future, to dream about possibilities

It’s an act of hope to care about others, even people you don’t know

It’s an act of hope to plant a garden, to publish your writing – to start a new job – to reach out to an old friend – to believe that things will get better

Hope is part of remembering what was and planning for what can be.

Here’s to a great day full of hope and possibility and an even better tomorrow

Seasons of Hope Spring Edition EP 71 Apr 25, 2025

Show notes

I know I’ve talked about this before, but here in Ohio where I live we are finally having some sunny days and temperature that make you want to kick off your boots and go grab your flip flops. And there’s nothing like it.

I love it all and try to appreciate it all as well.

Life has a seasonality to it too. I’m truly hopeful for what’s next. I hope you are too wherever you are – that you can look back with appreciation for what you’ve accomplished and overcome and look forward with hope for the future.

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