Mindsets of Hope and Despair

Mindset is an important part of life. How we view the world does change how the world reacts to us. Have hope for better, and we will find the better. Expect only worse, and we will find worse. The same event will be viewed differently, and reinforce what we already expect to have happen.

Even more, however, hope and despair is a statement of faith. (I do not speak here of clinical depression. If you've got a medical problem, get thee to a doctor!) When you fall into despair, you say that the Universe is limited and the Divine has abandoned you. But you are of the Divine, and to claim the Divine has abandoned you is to abandon yourself.

Hope and despair are how we view the world. They are lenses which color everything else we look at. And while it is reasonable to try to have lenses which match the world, there will always be a bias. Being pessemistic is not "just being honest." Refusing to see the good in the world because it is transitory is not "protecting yourself." It is so very easy to close oneself off from all the Universe has within it because it's too much work to reach out, or because we're afraid, or because we've been hurt before.

We won't always get what we want. Sometimes we succeed, and sometimes we fail, but the point is to have a mindset of hope. When we refuse to believe options exist, we remove them from our lives. When we see nothing but destruction, destruction is all we're left with. Despair says that destruction is the best we can expect, and that denies the Divine.

Questions:
What is despair? Why is it so harmful?
What is hope? What do you hope for in your life?
How do you balance seeing clearly with being optimistic? Do you think optimism is actually the best way to go?