Hope is not a destination, but a journey.
This March, The International Foundation of Research and Education (iFred), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to teaching hope, is launching the first-ever, 30-Day Global Hope Challenge as part of its Hopeful Cities initiative.
The Global Hope Challenge is a free program that introduces participants to the skills they need to create, maintain, and grow hope. Hope, defined as a vision, fueled by positive feelings and inspired actions, is a learnable, measurable, and teachable skill that can have positive impacts on all aspects of your life.
Research shows that higher levels of hope correspond to greater emotional and psychological wellbeing, as well as improved academic and job performance and enhanced personal relationships. Hope is also a known protective factor against anxiety and depression, both of which have increased significantly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people around the world. There has never been a more critical time to activate hope in your life and your community.
“Hope is tangible and teachable, and it is an essential ingredient for a successful life trajectory,” said Myron Belfer, MD, MPA, Hopeful Minds, Professor of Psychiatry Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, “People want something simple and easy, and this is a great way to start learning more about hope.”
The Global Hope Challenge introduces participants to the hope skills they can implement in their daily lives through 30 days, 30 lessons, and 30 actions. Each morning, participants receive an email about the day’s hope skill, along with a video, a lesson, an activity that puts the day’s skill into action, and a downloadable workbook to help monitor progress and reinforce the skill.
iFred has used their years of research on hope in children, as well as the lessons from the Hopeful Minds curriculum, to create a program that gives teens and adults the “what, why, and how” of hope. This is a program that is grounded in the science of hope, and provides a clear path towards a more hopeful mindset.
iFred views hope as a human right, and introduces all of its resources, programs, and curriculums for free. The Global Hope Challenge is also available in both Spanish and English.
For more information about the program, visit https://globalhopechallenge.com/. For more information on iFred’s other projects, visit https://www.ifred.org/.