Children are highly motivated compared to adults. Parents and caretakers go to great pains to shield their children from the harsh realities and drudgery of the adult world as long as possible in order to not dash their hopes. How much is motivation dependent on hope, and is it truly as fragile as many parents and adults feel it is?

For the most part, the young are not corrupted. They are naive because they have not experienced much failure other than their personal struggles with the physical environment. This is usually an inducement to work harder, to try harder, to prevail, and to eventually excel in all particulars if possible, to master their physical body and its needs, to manipulate things to be athletically competent with the built-in muscle memory to do many physical manipulations accurately and efficiently. This is a normal drive built into every human being—to strive. That is the inner yearning of the soul for learning and growth, so that part is natural. Where hope enters in is when things begin to flag—when there is fatigue, when there is some discouragement underway because energy begins to fade, or mistakes have happened and have begun to demotivate the person. Hope is a bridge to faith, a greater belief in possibilities, and everyone needs hope at times to help right the ship, so to speak, and get back on track and not fall further behind. Adults see children as hopeful, but this is more eagerness and naiveté and explains why they can be so happy in taking on life in a kind of fearless fashion that is amazing to the adult perspective, having been subjected to many obstacles that were insurmountable and experiencing many failures that were painful and humiliating at times. That is the price of gaining maturity, suffering the slings and arrows of life, that are inevitable to some degree, in everyone’s way. In a sense, both hope and youthful exuberance are borrowing from the same energy reservoir. Both are divine and both are related to loving thoughts and feelings, so they are cousins seeking to uplift and encourage, and thus make beautiful companions, and are truly a godsend being divine attributes and energy, both.