01/01/2026
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I wanted to share this article from today’s New York Times. It’s about hope and ways to cultivate it. I especially liked the part about “positive gossip.”
I think hope is a good word for the year.
Your hopes
By Lauren Jackson
I am the host of Believing.
America has become a country of cynics. At least, that’s what studies show.
People don’t trust each other, the media or the government. Most Americans, about 80 percent, don’t feel confident their children’s lives will be better than theirs. About half the country thinks America’s best days are in the past.
“Cynicism is vastly on the rise,” said Jamil Zaki, the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. It’s a dangerous trend — but Zaki and other experts say it’s reversible if people cultivate hope that another future is possible.
Hope, as a word, can be pat (does my barista really hope I have a good one?) and overly saccharine (think: the generic painted sign in an Airbnb). But it is also, experts tell me, an action verb.
While optimism is the belief that the future will be better, hope is the belief “that we have the power to make it so,” said Chan Hellman, the director of The Hope Research Center at the University of Oklahoma. It is “one of the strongest predictors of well-being,” he said. It helps improve the immune system and aids recovery from illness. More hopeful people may actually grow taller than less hopeful people.
To cultivate hope, people need three things, Zaki said: They first need to be able to envision a better future, either personally or collectively. Second, they need the willpower or motivation to move toward that future. And third, they must be able to chart “a path from where they are to where they want to be,” he added.
HOW TO BE MORE HOPEFUL
There are a few ways, experts say.
People can set specific goals and then “begin brainstorming the pathways or road maps” to achieve them, ideally by writing them down, Hellman said. That can start small. “It is much better to set and focus on short-term goals rather than long-term, abstract goals,” he added.
Another tactic is to “replace cynicism with skepticism,” Zaki said. “Skepticism is not believing that everything will turn out great, but also not prejudging things as terrible, either.”
That can often mean speaking more positively about other people, as trust in others is an indicator of low levels of cynicism. People gossip three times as much about the selfish things others do than about the generous things they do, Zaki has found. To address that, he and his family practice “positive gossip.”
“Each evening we try to share one story of something positive that somebody else did that day,” he said “The research finds that when you know you’re going to have to share something, you pay a lot more attention to it.”
WHAT YOU TOLD US
Let’s try some positive gossip, of sorts, for 2026. I wanted to know how we could be “good and proactive and even somewhat desperate” patients, as George Saunders once said, in seeking a more generous outlook. So we asked you what gives you hope, and more than 600 of you replied. Many of you spoke positively about others. Here’s what you said:
RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS
People like Ahmed el Ahmed in Australia, who don’t think twice about risking their lives to help others. Makes me remember Mister Rogers telling us, when things are bad, to “look for the helpers.”
Seeing a man playing peekaboo with a young toddler seated in front of him on an airplane (a stranger to him), over and over.
Tim. Early in our friendship, he texted me one morning: “Hey! I just heard on the radio that today is going to be the best day ever.” I smiled, actually believed him. About a week later, same text: “Hey! I just heard on the radio that today is going to be the best day ever.”
The lovely man who held the door for me at the post office, smiled and said, “Have a beautiful day.”
CHILDREN
Children playing on a playground.
Have you heard a kid really laugh? From their gut? That sound could end all wars.
My little girls. They are the kindest people I have ever met.
Whenever I meet a real, live high school student.
HISTORY
Mothers Against Drunk Driving. No one thought we could re-educate the populace to stop drinking and driving. We did by persevering and by educating children about it. They listened. We changed. We can do this again around the differences we have now.
My experience has taught me that the future does end up better, even if it seems a bit delayed.
Sports
I’m looking forward to watching the Super Bowl with my grandkids. And then, in March, I’m taking them to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo!
The World Cup! The biggest global event, bringing people together.
TRAVEL
The first overseas trip for our children, 12 and 10. I’m excited to see their minds open.
My cousin’s cowboy-themed wedding in Sweden.
OTHER SOURCES
A Nativity scene under a tree.
Belief in God.
The progress we’re making as a society on renewable energy.
Living in the same place for 30 years is a great adventure when one pays attention.
I hope, in 2026, we can all be more like Tim.
