At the recent Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the luminous Michelle Obama proclaimed that “hope is making a comeback.”

With our planet as unstable as I can recall, with the reality of ‘back to school’ around the corner, a shot of positive expectation is timely and welcome.

And if Kamala Harris can frustrate the campaign to re-elect Donald Trump, then 2024 will end with some spectacularly good news. In the credit column too, the soul-warming Olympic and Paralympic Games. Converging forces in a diverging world.

But what is hope? Cherishing a desire with anticipation, wanting something to happen or to be true, believing that the future will be better than the present?

At one level yes but, interestingly, in psychology, a distinction has been drawn between hope and optimism, the latter purely a belief system, the former more of an active process.

For sublime optimism, I discovered, in my father’s effects, a letter written by his French aunt three weeks after her hometown of Béthune had been liberated “par Les Tommies” on Monday 4th September 1944 at 10am. A magical moment forever etched in her memory.

Tante Germaine wrote of everyone feeling “fou de joie” on this day so long-awaited and hoped for. She had clearly remained steadfastly optimistic that freedom would come.

Hope Theory, however, a specialism of the late University of Kansas Professor Charles R Snyder, compounds hope by linking it to the existence of a goal, combined with a determined plan for reaching that goal.

He postulated that there are three main elements to hopeful thinking: Goals – approaching life in a goal-oriented way; Pathways – finding different ways to achieve your goals; Agency – believing that you can instigate change and achieve these goals.

In a similar way, coaching differs from a supportive conversation by steering the coachee towards a clear goal, encouraging commitment to identify and take productive steps along the chosen path.

I like the notion that, when faced with overwhelming macro concerns, we seek agency within our circle of influence, even extending this discipline to managing our hopes. Less easy perhaps than simply believing but with potentially greater personal reward.

And I should point out that my redoubtable great-aunt was in the French Resistance during WW2, working for Renault in a ground floor office with Nazis in the rooms above. She was, therefore, both optimistic and actively hopeful (as well as old school brave).

Australian musician and writer Nick Cave said this, in a TV interview a couple of weeks ago: “Hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us… Hopefulness is not a neutral position, it is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism.” Love it.

As we contemplate the run-in to Christmas, let’s go forth and practise hope with a purpose.