Turning Closed Doors into Open Opportunities: A Journey of Hope

I often think of the 1998 movie Sliding Doors, in which Gwyneth Paltrow has two different romantic journeys depending on whether she manages to catch a train before it leaves the station. It is a film with two stories of 'what ifs'.

One tale is full of happiness and joy with one man; the other is full of unhappiness and problems with another.

It's been a while since I last watched it, but — Spoiler Alert — I vaguely remember some unexpected twists, which left the 'happy story' with a tragic ending.

Nevertheless, the 'unhappy story' ends with Gwyneth Paltrow's character meeting the 'happy story' man in a twist of fate.

Even though she took a dark detour for a while, the Universe offered her another go, and she got a second chance.

Whatever you think of the movie, it signifies hope, failure and growth.

I'm a big fan of hope. I don't know where my hope comes from, but I've felt it on and off since my first memory of going to the cinema. Who knew the long-lasting effect Star Wars: A New Hope could have on an impressionable 5-year-old!

Hope hasn't stopped my life from giving me dark days but has always found me and guided me through them.

When I haven't felt hope, I have 'hoped for hope', and it's helped to give me the perspective of impermanence, knowing that things would change eventually.

I am so fascinated by the power of hope that I wrote my master's dissertation on how it showed up in a period of my life.

A theory of hope I feel a natural affinity towards combines mind, body and spirit.

It describes hope as a network we build over five levels from birth onwards, with the top two levels related to faith, beliefs and behaviours.

These higher levels relate to spirituality, e.g., how I think of myself and the universe/higher power, how I act, and what my values are centred on.

These are all behaviours that I can actively change and grow from day to day.

Hope has become my spiritual guide; in this sense, closed and open doors have become one and the same for me.

When I'm heading down a dark tunnel, my hope allows me to still have a future full of light, even if I am filled with anxiety and despair as I'm going through it.

Hope helps me move away from closed doors and towards open ones.

Both doors give me opportunities to grow, and that's what life is all about.

"You know that you want, you do your part, and then the rest is a lesson in patience and faith." - Spyder

We've all faced times when hope felt out of reach, yet the story of Sliding Doors reminds us that second chances can arise unexpectedly.

Take a moment to think back on a challenging period in your life when hope was hard to find.

How did you nurture that glimmer of hope, even when circumstances seemed bleak?

What practices, beliefs, or supportive relationships helped you maintain faith that better days lay ahead?