When I feel nostalgic for my early years, it is usually a longing for the hopefulness I felt then. If young people today feel hope at all, it seems tempered in a larger context of disasters all around (and predictions of worse to come).
Without that hope, how do they work toward better prospects for themselves, their communities and their world?
What can we do to help our children have hope for a good life in a good world?
Darlene Rivera teaches Social Studies within a global service context. She provides stories of people who are making a positive difference with their work. She provides a guide for students to organize projects to make their own positive difference in the world.
Underneath those actions, I suspect there is a disposition and emotion we need to cultivate and nurture in our young people so they have the strength and spirit to sustain their efforts in the face of frustrations and setbacks. While noticing that the concept of mindfulness has grown as a trend in many spheres of our culture, I’ve been thinking what we need most is “heartfulness”–staying in our heart, feeling love for the objects of our help and perhaps even those who stand in our way.
The antidote to frustration may not be meditation or being aware in our minds, but being aware in our hearts and maintaining the energy that only love provides.