“Cope with Hope*”

— My Mother

Emailed to Subscribers on 10/7/2020

A couple of years ago I took my mother through an ELI Energy Assessment.  This is a practice I learned in my IPEC coaching certification, building on the research and writing of Bruce D. Schneider in his book Energy Leadership. (Note: This is printed with my mother’s permission.)

Mom did not like the word energy because she felt, at 95, she did not have any (which she still does by the way at almost 98!)  So I asked her to think of it simply as “the way you react to situations” rather than “energy.”  In our conversations together we started talking about the lower levels of how people react, like fear denial and even anger.  She realized she was not in this place.  We then talked about the higher levels of how people react, like focusing on others, seeing opportunity in everything and even synergy among all things.  Mom similarly did not see herself yet in those places.

In one of our next sessions my mother opened up to me that she had come up with a slogan “Cope with Hope” to describe how she was striving to react to situations around her.  She was resonating right in the middle of the energy ranges – not too low, but not too high.   I absolutely loved this!!  She has been committed to striving to this level of coping, compromising, and getting through, which has helped her (especially lately) remain vital into her late 90’s.

It is not humanly possible to stay at the higher levels of energy in our lives all the time.  Some people never even get there or get there only briefly.  But that does not mean we need to reside at the lowest levels of fear, anger, and inaction either.  If we can manage well in the middle range of coping, we can still achieve a lot.  And to tell you the truth, I certainly observe my mother in the higher levels more than she does.  But it is about her, not me, in completing her assessment.

Where are you in your energetic self-assessment?  Do you want to “Cope with Hope?”  Do you want even more?  Are you struggling on the low end? Contact me through wimmovescoaching.com, Facebook, Linkedin, phone or email for discussion and deeper understanding.

Please share this today with anyone you think it might help and let them know to subscribe to future Win Moves Wednesday messages at winmovescoaching.com/subscribe.

* In researching this post I learned there are other people and organizations that use Cope with Hope in their materials.  We did not know about their existence in our work together, but they are great organizations that I encourage you to support. 

May your next moves be Win Moves!