What propels people to keep fighting for change when everything seems hopeless? This question sits at the heart of our exploration into the transformative power of hope as a revolutionary act.
"Hope isn't blind optimism or wishful thinking—it's the hammer we use to break glass in emergencies." Drawing inspiration from the late activist Adi Barkin, we distinguish between optimism as a mere opinion and hope as the catalyst for meaningful action. When the world feels darkest, hope becomes our most radical choice.
We shine light on everyday revolutionaries who embody this principle: Representative Melanie Stansbury fighting for justice despite personal risk, TikToker Hester Jean Lee supporting vulnerable street vendors, Chef Jose Andres delivering aid in conflict zones, and Gazan music teacher Ahmed Muin Abu-Amsha transforming drone sounds into healing harmonies. These individuals don't act because success is guaranteed—they act because hope demands it.
Psychological research confirms what spiritual traditions have long taught: hope is a decision, not a feeling. It's built brick by brick through consistent action and strengthened through community. While despair might be the easier choice, hope calls us to something greater—to believe in possibilities beyond our past experiences and imagine futures we haven't yet witnessed.
Ready to find your own "hopers" and join the revolution of the hopeful? Listen now to discover how tapping into hope can fuel your journey toward creating the reality you seek. Remember, when you show up fully, you give others permission to do the same. Make this the timeline where you show up.
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We’re not waiting for the world to change. We’re choosing the timeline — together.
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Episode Transcript
You didn't come here to play safe.
You came to remember your powerand build what comes next.
I'm Sylvia Beatriz, psychicmedium and intuition coach, and
this is Soul Level Human, thepodcast for truth-tellers,
cycle-breakers and soul-ledrevolutionaries.
You didn't come here to bypassthe chaos.
You came here to lead throughit.
(00:20):
Lead through it.
What a week, huh.
I feel like I say that everyweek.
At this point, this episode iscoming out on the heels of Jimmy
Kimmel being taken off the airafter pressure from the FCC,
(00:42):
which is new, and the targetingof the press and celebrities is
a common redline indicator formany people to leave the States,
according to all the messageboards I've been in on Reddit on
comment sections.
So tell me why.
(01:03):
The energetic transmission thatcame in so strongly this week
was hope, hope.
It was so strong all week,everywhere.
It was all about hope.
And I will be the first to tellyou that the decision to stay
(01:24):
or leave is a completelypersonal one, and I urge you to
tap into your own inner wisdom,your own intuition, your higher
guidance for that type ofdecision.
Please don't go see a psychicand give your power away.
I am a psychic.
This is coming from a psychic.
It makes me so angry that somany people literally outsource
(01:48):
their entire life and power likethis.
Support Totally, yes, letsomebody read the energy for you
.
Give you some information andinsights, sure, but give up your
authority in your life, no.
So back to hope.
I'm going to play a clip foryou from a virtual call that
Jimmy Kimmel had with Adi Barkina few years ago.
(02:12):
If you're not familiar with Adi, he was a lawyer, healthcare
activist and a father of two.
He was diagnosed with ALS fourmonths after becoming a dad and
he spent the rest of his lifeadvocating for Medicare for all.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Do you feel optimistic that real change will
come?
Adi, the future is asunpredictable as ever.
You and Molly learned that aswell as anyone when Billy was
born, and America has beenreminded of that vividly in
recent years with the electionof Donald Trump, with the
coronavirus pandemic, witheverything.
So no, I am not optimisticabout the future.
(03:02):
I don't have a prediction abouthow it will go, but I am
hopeful about the future.
And here's the differencebetween optimism and hope.
Optimism is an opinion.
Hope is a spur to action.
Hope is not a lottery ticketthat we cling to.
It's a hammer that we use in anemergency to break the glass,
(03:22):
sound the alarm and spring intoaction.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
There is something about him and his story that
just resonates with me so deeply, I don't know.
Maybe if we understood howimportant our time here is, then
less of us would waste it.
And and he became a dad aroundthe time that we had our first
(03:54):
baby.
We were a year apart.
He's a 1983 kid and I'm a 1984kid and I made it to 40 and he
didn't.
Strong possibility that hewouldn't get to change the
(04:19):
system like he wanted to.
He wouldn't get to do it all intime and save his own life.
But that hope that things couldbe different still had an
impact, still got him up out ofbed in the morning and his kids
will know how hard he fought tobe with them as long as possible
and they'll know how not evenan ALS diagnosis stopped that
(04:45):
man from doing everything hecould to build a better country,
a better future for them.
That's hope.
Hope works hand in hand withcourage, heart-centered fire in
the face of fear and bleakcircumstances.
(05:06):
Optimism is mindset, cerebraloverride.
It's nice, it's useful, but itdoesn't have the same rootedness
that hope does.
Hope is a product of havingwrestled with the dark, knowing
that the sun always rises again,the seasons change, nothing
(05:29):
lasts forever, that the naturaluniverse balances itself.
Natural universe balancesitself.
Hope is a choice built brick bybrick through consistent action
, a choice made again and again.
Just ask any actor worth theirsalt here in LA or New York.
(05:49):
Of course, their passion anddrive aren't fueled by optimism,
pollyanna, naivete.
No, it's grit, it's resilience.
It's being in the moment in anaudition, even though they just
crashed out to the max hoursearlier about feeling behind in
their career.
(06:09):
It's booking their headshotsand investing in a professional
photographer and a makeup artist.
That's, that's hope.
It's betting on the possibilityof something happening.
Or look at a couple facinginfertility deciding to try
another round of IVF Investmentof time, energy, money.
(06:32):
There's heartache, loss,hardship, doubt, but that
reality calling them forward,the sheer glimmer of possibility
, is enough.
Hope to power them through allof it.
That level of commitment to theoutcome they want, that
(06:53):
integrity that keeps themshowing up, focused every day,
despite hardship, despite fear,despite worst case scenario and
despite even failure, thepossibility that it might not
happen.
That's the power of hope, thatthe impossible just might be
possible.
(07:14):
The most common responses I seein comment sections are what's
the point?
We're cooked chat.
Democracy is dead.
That's despair with zero action.
No fight, no fire.
That is crab mentality.
You know the idea that if youput one crab in a bucket it
(07:34):
crawls out, no problem, but ifyou put a few in there, they
just pull each other down andnobody's allowed to escape.
If I can't see it, if I can'thave it, you can't have it
either.
Do you know people like this?
They call themselves realists,people plugged into the 3D, but
(07:55):
the reality, their version of 3Dthat they're plugged into, is
only based on what they'veexperienced in the past.
So if they've never seen it, itdoesn't exist.
And therefore you're stupid fortrying to create something
different, for believing thatsomething else is possible.
And also, who do you think youare to think that you're exempt
(08:18):
from those rules?
Oh, you think you're so special.
Just because they lack hope andvision and imagination, they
want you to stay in the bucketwith them.
Meanwhile, there are thousandsof Americans, of people all over
the world, still showing updaily to keep fighting for a
(08:38):
better, more beautiful future,or at least a better, more
beautiful today.
And today and today, one stepat a time.
There's Representative MelanieStansbury keeping attention on
getting justice for thesurvivors on the list, the list
and uncovering corruption.
(08:59):
I can't even imagine how scarythat must be.
That's a dangerous thing to do,but she's still showing up and
she's not alone.
There's TikToker Hester JeanLee here in LA, who started
getting money together andbuying street vendors out of
their entire inventory just sothey can go home and stay safe,
(09:20):
and now her account has blown upand thousands of people are
funding her work so that she cando more and also take care of
herself while doing it.
I'll leave her link in the shownotes in case you feel inspired
to help.
There's Chef Jose Andres, whoseorganization World Central
Kitchen partners with locals tofeed people in disaster areas,
(09:41):
including Gaza, where their teammembers have been targeted and
killed and aid distributionblocked, and he's still trying
doing everything he can.
Blocked, and he's still tryingdoing everything he can.
There's Gazan music teacher,ahmed Muin Abu-Amsha, who is
using music therapy to helppeople of all ages to feel human
(10:02):
again in Gaza.
He's even using the sound ofthe drones to teach people to
sing and harmonize to help themcope with their daily reality.
I can't even imagine thatpsychological warfare of having
the buzz of those drones justhovering over them with zero
(10:22):
break and he's turning it intosomething beautiful.
If they didn't have hope, ifthey didn't choose to hope, they
wouldn't get out of bed, and itwould make sense if they didn't
get out of bed.
If anybody has a free pass tonot get out of bed, to feel
(10:44):
despair, to feel hopeless, it'sthem.
Hope isn't the easy choice.
Despair is Giving up, isOverwhelm.
Is it's so much easier to givein to the worst case scenario in
your head, reaching for hopeand then letting it fuel action?
(11:08):
Are you kidding?
But if they can find a way toreach for hope, I can too.
Here's an excerpt from anarticle in theconversationcom by
Kendra Thomas, associateProfessor of Psychology, hope
College.
(11:28):
Hope is often defined inpsychological research as having
strong will to succeed andplans to reach a goal.
Hope is stronger than optimismat predicting academic success
and people's ability to copewith pain.
Plenty of scientific evidencesuggests that hope improves
individuals' health and booststheir well-being.
(11:52):
Hope improves individuals'health and boosts their
well-being.
But branding hope as aself-improvement tool cheapens
this long-established virtue.
Hope has benefits beyond theself.
Thus, many psychologists areexpanding the study of hope
beyond personal success.
My research team defines thisquote-unquote virtuous hope as
(12:14):
striving toward a purposefulvision of the common good, a
hope often shaped by hardshipand strengthened through
relationships.
Channeled that lesson toinspire change.
(12:36):
Centuries of spiritual andphilosophical work describe hope
as a virtue that, like love, isa decision, not a feeling.
Maybe, along with looking forhelpers, like Mr Rogers said, it
would be helpful to also lookfor the hopers.
Let their hope re-spark yours.
(12:57):
Of course they get tired, ofcourse they get discouraged.
They're human.
Look around, who wouldn't?
But a small flame of hope growsinto a collective fire If you
surround yourself with others,in the trenches, with you.
(13:18):
Community is key.
Collective action is the magic.
Hope is an act of courage inthe face of despair.
And maybe courage and hope aresimply the qualities of the
human spirit.
This whole podcast is calledSoul Level Human, after all, the
(13:41):
spirit, the soul, the fire thatcan't be taken or destroyed.
You have it.
Tap into it, let it fuel you,let it show you what your next
steps are.
Choose the timeline that you'rehere to anchor.
Know that, even when it's hard,you being here is enough.
(14:05):
You showing up in hope andcourage, step by step, each
choice, each action.
You are creating that reality.
And the timeline isn't up to us,right.
We're not in control of when weget to the goal, but knowing
(14:26):
that you're walking in thatdirection.
That goal is an inevitabilityand you are doing what it takes
in the now moment and in thenext now moment, and you're not
alone in the trenches.
People are waking up.
(14:46):
There is hope, there is reasonto fight for a better world,
there is reason to not give upand just let the dark take over.
Hope.
May you look for it, may youfind it, may you tend to it, and
(15:06):
may you find others to hold itwith you, because you don't have
to hold it all by yourself.
Hope, that's it, that's themessage.
Thank you for listening to SoulLevel Human.
If this episode moved somethingin you, share it.
Text it to a friend, post toyour stories.
(15:29):
The Soul Level Revolutionspreads one brave human at a
time and your voice makes adifference.
So until next time, remember toslow down, tune in, trust your
guidance and keep having theaudacity to choose the highest
timeline.
When you show up fully, yougive others permission to do the
same.
Make this the timeline whereyou show up.
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