Pradip Parajuli

Psychological Counselor/Life Coach Practitioner

The conversation between Red and Andy Dufresne in the movie “The Shawshank Redemption” is still vivid in my mind.  Andy and Red become friends and the subject of hope comes up at lunch one day. Andy responds to Red’s hopelessness statement by saying “Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, may be the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

Perhaps, hope is a good thing to have and it gives us a feeling of expectation; and desire for a particular thing to happen. During my childhood, my mother used to tell me that I should not have much hope that might drive me insane if that didn’t manifest in reality. But I was always against that, and I have been pretty hopeful since my childhood, and I still have some sort of hope for my future.

Dr. Curt Richter conducted a significant experiment in the 1950s involving rats, which highlighted the concept of ‘hope’ in the realm of psychology.  In the experiment, Richter placed rats into a high-sided bucket of circulating water and observed how long they would swim before they gave up and sank. On average, the rats swam around 15 minutes before giving up.

However, if he removed them from the water just as they were about to drown, dried them off and let them rest for a few minutes, and then placed them back into the water, the rats would swim for a much longer time before giving up. This time, they swam for up to 60 hours, a dramatic increase in endurance.

The significance of this experiment lies in its demonstration of the ‘hope’ factor. When the rats were saved and given a rest before being put back into the water, they seemed to gain hope or a sense of survival, which helped them persist much longer.

This experiment has been used to illustrate the power of positive expectancy and the importance of hope in human psyche. It suggests that even in dire and adverse situations, having a sense of hope or a belief that relief is possible can dramatically improve resilience and endurance.

Let’s hope for self and create hope for others as well.

Pradip Parajuli

I am Pradip Parajuli. I have been in helping profession since 13 years. To tell the truth, I am a new Life Coach practitioner. Yet prior to becoming a Life Coach, I spent 5 years working as a Counselor; and before that I used to work as a Social Worker and Program Manager in a reputed International Non-governmental Organization. I am practicing Counseling as well as Life Coaching. From the get-go, I loved life coaching. As I kept going and trained in Counseling, Hypnotherapy, NLP, Life Coaching (Beginner to Advanced), my belief that I had found my niche in life was cemented. That niche is to help people get unstuck and find more purpose and enjoyment in their lives.
I genuinely do understand when clients say they’re looking for a change, but don’t know what it is yet or how to achieve it. Because I have been there, done that and thankfully was lucky enough to walk away to now be doing a job where I never have to think “Thank God it’s Friday (TGIF).”

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