Scientist Dr Lauren Oakes poses this question to her peers:
“When you think about the future in terms of environmental change, how would you distinguish hope from faith? Do you experience either or both when thinking about the future (of planet, humanity, or self)?” From: In Search of the Canary Tree, The Story of a Scientist, a Cypress, and a Changing World
Exploring our responses to her question, you may not resonate well with the word faith. If you don’t, swap “trust” for “faith”. Which is stronger. You might like to look at your writing, I suggest that people who start a sentence by by saying “I hope …” change it to “I trust …” and see if that generates more a positive than tentative tone to the sentence.
and what of the phrase “I guess…” which many people use, either because they are not completely confident, or they don’t want to come across as arrogant. With a critical audience it can leave them wondering – even subliminally – if you really do know your stuff.
Lastly, the differences between “I think…” and “I feel…”. The former tends to indicate a more general truth, while the latter a more personal truth. Neither is right or wrong, both can be useful in the right situation.