The role of HOPE : everything starts from myself 从我做起！
“I believe that cultivating hope for the planet begins with cultivating hope at a deeply personal level.”
FROM DESPAIR AND SADNESS TO RESILIENCE AND ACTION
As I wrote a few years ago in the preface to the eco-sustainable project I created within the corporate I am working for, hope is often misunderstood. Back in 2021, we were living in times of big uncertainty, especially for those of us living in China. One day, a sharing from some colleagues triggered me as if I had been punched in my stomach. The indifference and lack of awareness of the damage that the industry was causing to the planet- and therefore to us- and the lack of intention to be engaged in doing something better, made me so angry that I felt very sad. I remember sharing this with my mindfulness mentor and trainer, and we considered two options: quit the company, or stay and act. Our hope can spark from something outside, but it is generated from something inside I realised that quitting would have been a kind of submission to their point of view, which to me was unacceptable. At the same time, if I was going to stay, I needed to make a change and have the courage to fight against some barriers. It was not an easy choice. After a few self-reflections, supported by my practice of self-compassion to stay with the waves of emotions being present, I decided to stay and act- engaged action rooted in the intention to do better and to inspire others to follow. What I know now is that our hope can spark from something outside, but it is generated from something inside.
THE SPARK OF ACTION
After a coaching session where something said by the client triggered me, I shared this state with the client, who invited me to say more. At that moment, I realised that everything was related to my anger and sadness for what was going on in my team. As I got clear about the deep need for action, the client suggested I connect with someone who could help me to elaborate and build something- at that point I had no clue what that ‘something’ would be! I then connected with a company working with, in, and for forests, providing means of self-sustainability to people taking care of the trees. Eco-Sustainability and Human Connection! This resonated with me deeply, and my journey to create began, followed by meetings, collection of information, evaluation of ups and downs, and writing my guidelines to be shared. At that same time, Jane Goodall was offering a summit dedicated to hope. This was the drop that filled my glass. The speakers were elaborating, somehow, what was present in my heart. Integrating science and wisdom: hope is movement, movement is hope, hope as an act of resilience, where resilience means the capacity to cope with adversity to push through challenges in the pursuit of opportunities, as Rick Hanson well describes.1 Hanson, R., & Hanson, F. (2018). Resilient: how to grow an unshakable core of calm, strength, and happiness. Harmony Books
Our hope can spark from something outside, but it is generated from something inside
PREPARING THE HOPE PROJECT
With our HOPE Project, we have already planted 3.069 trees -746 TONS OF CO2 to improve air quality and support local communities IN 12 COUNTRIES
I secretly prepared the project, built the connection with the forest company, and asked for technical support from my engineering colleague. A few days before I was going to call the company CEO for a meeting where I would present everything—including the goals of having a forest—something unexpected happened: one of our major clients asked if our corporation was engaged in any eco-sustainability action or project. The only colleague who was supporting me with his engineering expertise was present at the meeting and called me that night: ‘I could not keep the secret, very sorry! I told our CEO that we actually already have a plan prepared, just a matter of receiving his approval.’ I was so excited. The next day, I received an email from the CEO’s assistant saying: ‘Let’s talk and go forward!’ We agreed to build our forest gradually as compensation for our CO₂ emissions, with the goal to increase the number of trees for the benefit of local people’s lives, and to decrease our internal emissions and waste. The name I chose for the forest- without any doubt and without space for change- was Hope. 30 associationforcoaching.com Hope Forest has been growing. I have since stepped away from the project but the soul of Hope is embedded into our daily small actions and choices. Today, in 2025, I am ready to face another challenge inside the company: to revise our approach to hope in order to build something regenerative before becoming sustainable again.
UNDERSTANDING REAL HOPE
Back in 2021, I wrote that people tend to think that hope is simply passive wishful thinking: ‘I hope something will happen, but I’m not going to do anything about it.’ This is the opposite of real hope, which requires self awareness, inner strength, and engagement to reach a goal. My goal has been, and is, to cultivate hope for our planet, which is actually equal to nourishing hope for our wellbeing. The existence of all living beings is based on the fulfilment of basic needs: safety, survival, and connection. An individual action driven by the heart is equally important as global action to ensure that we and future generations can still have hope- to breathe, to eat, to love our Earth. She will always be with us and create even better conditions. As we say here: 'Everything starts for myself! 从我做起!'
Hope shaped unto forest aims to be the starting point of global action to cultivate hope, contributing to offering hope to many people in our human community who lack resources to survive. It is my sincere desire that this action will help many others find direction in a time of uncertainty, and courage in a time of fear.
HOPE SPARKS FROM FEAR AND SADNESS
What we need to be aware of is that all emotions are equally important and messengers for life. As Taoism and Buddhism teaches us: ‘Life is made of 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows.’ If you see the sadness, then you can meet the joy; but if you close the door to sadness, you also lock out joy. An individual action driven by the heart is equally important as global action to ensure that we and future generations can still have hope- to breathe, to eat, to love our Earth The scale and expanse of nature enables us to switch perspective: the bigger the space, the smaller the issue looks.
An individual action driven by the heart is equally important as global action to ensure that we and future generations can still have hope- to breathe, to eat, to love our Earth
GRATITUDE, WONDER, AND APPRECIATION: CREATING SAFETY FROM WITHIN
That is what I am doing through my coaching, rooted in awareness and somatic practice within nature. I support clients to create a safe container where they can explore and stay with what is present. After sharing despair and the flow of feelings, I invite them to pause, take a breath and explore gratitude. Practising the connection with the body, from an Eastern philosophy and practice standpoint, means connecting with the elements and finding the qualities you see in them. I hold a weekly meditation session. After a mindfulness-based meditation on the four elements, a client reflected: ‘When I paused my hands on the water element, meaning on the kidneys, I got a hiccup- a kind of wake-up call. Kidneys are associated with fear, and my life now is full of fear. Does this mean I have to find courage?’ To me, this is where awareness was evoked and the shift happened: through stillness, she was able to connect safely with that and see the message brought to her by fear, instead of collapsing into it and getting stuck. When possible, I encourage practising the sacred pause: walking into nature, breathing with nature, finding the anchor elements there. It happened that sunlight was seen as a source of warmth and support by a client going through a dark time. Hugging a tree became the anchor to feel calm. Jumping on rocks and staying with the qualities of the rock helped release unrevealed trauma. In my current coaching experience with Chinese clients, a few shared the fear of survival due to economic changes and the sensation of not seeing the future as safe enough: Some lacking in resources fell into depression and apathy, which can be seen as a silent reaction. Others found the courage to call for individual sessions or join group sessions in nature. My wish as a coach is to accompany them to learn how to hold these sensations and related feelings, to find the anchor in order to remember how is to feel nourished and safe and to create their own hope in the new life dimension they are going through.
HOPE AS ENERGY
I believe that hope can be shaped into different kinds of actions based on different energies, where the forces of yin and yang are combined and balanced. I recently launched a ‘100 Days Mindful Challenge’ to support the community to cultivate self-awareness for better self-growth. I can recognize different energies in the practices that have been chosen: as said in diamond sutra:
• The Meditator, who needs stillness to engage
• The Artist, who uses curiosity and playfulness to tackle the challenge and act
• The Warrior, who owns courage
These three energies are interrelated, but one can dominate depending on the situation, on who we are and what we need in that moment. Becoming aware of whether we need to calm down, create joy, or step up with compassion is what serves us to build wise action and see our way to hope.
Everything starts for myself. 从我做起！
REFLECTIONS :
What is the role of HOPE in your life? What traits would you give to HOPE ?
Which energy type do you recognize in your life-practice ?
WARMLY WELCOME TO LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS OR SEND THEM BY PM
THE ARTICLE has been published on bit.ly/CPShare : “ Coaching Perspectives” Magazine ,January 2026 Edition “ Coaching and Hope” /Issue 48
1.Hanson, R., & Hanson, F. (2018). Resilient: how to grow an unshakable core of calm, strength, and happiness. Harmony Books
