Begin today’s lesson by asking the following questions to your class.
- How do you measure whether you feel fulfillment in life? (Answers will vary based on students’ experiences; but students may mention friendships, family relationships, hobbies, or plans for the future.)
- What are some things that bring you hope? (Answers will vary based on students’ experiences; but students may mention friends, plans for the future, or their relationship with Jesus.)
While hope can be hard to quantify, recent research suggests that having hope actually benefits our health! A recent article from Harvard School of Public Health explored the health benefits of hope and found that, “An optimistic outlook may help people live longer, and may also lower the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions.”
Another article from Healthline offers 5 tips for practicing hope—and reaping the health benefits—of hope:
- Take some control (of your life and what circumstances you can control
- Find good news and silver linings
- Practice gratitude
- Believe negative events are temporary (The article heading for #4 is “blame bad luck,” which means to believe negative events are temporary.)
- Look forward to better times
- Which of these 5 items do you find the easiest to practice? The hardest? Why? (Accept all reasonable responses, allowing students to share their thoughts.)
Hope is an important part of living a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life. Today, we’re going to learn about the key to a life worth living.