Your Inner Crew: A Guide to the Forces of the Mind

Intentions and emotions are largely involuntary pieces of the Mind. They run automatically until we can bring them from the subconscious into the conscious waking Mind. Through this process, we gain control of them and therefore ourselves rather than letting ourselves be controlled.

Values are core beliefs that we have to seek out and adopt. They are external concepts and ideas that we consciously recognize and want to bring into our subconscious. By adopting values, we place a filter in our subconscious that helps to clean up unruly emotions and free-flying intentions. They provide direction and align us to work with integrity. Through that filter, intentions become intentional. But there are other external concepts we have to adopt that are different from values. These are the Forces of the Mind. 

The Forces of the Mind are external concepts and ideas we must consciously act upon. We can “adopt” these concepts similarly to Values, but the difference is that while values become a passive “hand on our shoulder” to guide us, Forces are concepts we must draw on and put in motion. Forces of the Mind do not act on their own. Their energies are readily available and they will never deny you their assistance, but you have to go to them and “ask” for their assistance. 

Working with these Forces is what helps us directly and personally. You have heard the expression, “Forgiveness is not for the other person, it is for yourself.” This is exactly how the Forces of the Mind work. They provide a means and conveyance for your freedom and security. Just like my earlier example of the ship, the Forces of the Mind are the ship's crew. They need direction and orders but after spending some time working with them and with each other they need minimal directions. After some time you just have to call on them and they will know what needs to be done. 

When the storms of life come along, the Forces are the things we need to call on to help us stabilize. We can think of the Forces like ants and the Mind like the anthill. When something disturbs the anthill or “breaks” it, the ants swarm out to protect it and rebuild. If you have accidentally stepped in a bed of Fireants you know just how much a force of reckoning they can be. I mentioned Forgiveness and that is one of many Forces of the Mind. It is quite a big one as well and not as easy as people like to think. You don’t just forgive someone one time and then it's over. You have to actively perform forgiveness daily. 

That is true for every Force of the Mind. They are not one-and-done pieces that we can just passively recognize and move on. They are an active state of the Mind. We have to recognize the situations they are needed and then decide to act with them. Forgiveness is one that I want to cover here. The other three I want to talk about are Understanding, Trust, and Gratitude. Just like values, these are just a handful of what exists, but they are big handfuls and key ingredients to a stable foundation in all aspects of life. I mean that these are healthy to actively work on despite wanting to live a spiritual life. Let’s go ahead and dive into these.

Forgiveness

As I stated, forgiveness is not a one-time practice. Forgiveness does not equal forgetting. I once made a post on social media stating:

“Forgiveness is not hard because we forget how things felt. Forgiveness is hard because we ALLOW ourselves to remember those feelings and CHOOSE peace instead of anger, resentment, or vengeance. Forgiveness breaks the cycles and creates justice. Forgiveness takes time.”

Unpacking that gives us a few things to think about. First of course is the emotions. When we feel hurt by other people we want to dwell on that. Emotions are hard to let go of and move on from. Most of the time, the reason is because we want to point the finger of blame in their direction rather than looking at ourselves. Usually, when we feel hurt we are experiencing emotions we brought on ourselves. We tend to put expectations on others to be what we want them to be rather than letting them be who they are. We hold onto this hurt and blame another because they were just being themselves when we wanted them to be someone else. Forgiveness is how we can free ourselves from these emotions and make progress moving forward. We learn to look within and say, “Why do I feel these emotions? Were my wants overriding their individuality in my mind?” When we start asking ourselves these questions we realize we have to offer Forgiveness to ourselves more than we need to offer it to others. 

When we choose to act by Forgiveness we allow ourselves to feel those emotions. We dive into the reasons behind those emotions including triggers and expectations. We cross-reference those emotional triggers against our values. Two different people are not going to have the same set of values. Harboring hurt emotions leads to those emotions I stated above; anger, resentment, and vengeance. People will go out of their way to be angry because the world is out to get them. The world is not out to get them, they simply forgot how to protect their peace. Forgiveness is exactly how we learn to protect our peace. 

This does not mean that you will always be forgiving yourself. Please do not think you have to take on extreme amounts of guilt. Some people will maliciously perform acts against you. Do we need to harbor those heavy hurt emotions against them because we know that? No. Forgiveness creates justice in your world and the world around you. Imagine a person could connect to you with a water hose and they feed malicious actions through the hose towards you. They are filling passing all the negativity they hold onto you. You try to push it back on them but then your energy is in a constant state of war to hold that back. You in turn connect to others with your hoses and try to siphon that off to them to ease your burden. You either begin pulling their energy in pity to give you a leg up or you divert some of the malicious energy onto them.  A vicious cycle has been created. 

You may have started to picture this and visualized the people in your life caught in this cycle. Forgiveness is the answer because, again, it is how we protect our peace. When we look at the person who performed that initial malicious act and say we forgive them we learn to walk away. We essentially cut the hose so that we no longer receive the negativity and we no longer feed into it. At this point, we can forgive ourselves and cut the hoses from the people who unwittingly got hooked into the situation. We can choose at this point to repair the relationships with these people and we can even make the goodwill effort to talk things out with the person who started the cycle. But at the moment you fully give in to forgiveness, you have freed yourself from it all. Which gives you the power to completely walk away. Hopefully, you would do the healthy thing and at least tell the people you wronged that you are no longer entertaining the situation so they can also experience freedom. 

The person with the malicious intent may have had a one-off moment. They may have a pattern of this behavior though. In a one-off moment, they may eventually come around to talk to you about it and try to repair things or create a moment of closure. Offer them grace and allow them freedom. The person with a pattern, on the other hand, will then try to attach that hose to someone else and create the cycle all over again. The more people in our society actively practice forgiveness the shorter and shorter that hose is going to get. The hose is special though, energy can only flow through it when connected to an external repository. The shorter that hose gets, and the more word gets around about their behaviors, the less likely others will fall victim. Eventually, they will have to face themselves and the backup of negative energy they can no longer push onto others. That doesn’t mean using forgiveness as a means of revenge though. 

Truly working with forgiveness means that you are cutting ties binding you to another person. Which helps to create that shield of indifference I spoke of with emotions. When engaging with the Forces of the Mind you will find that the state of being indifferent grows. Indifference is not a negative thing, it is a state of innocence. In the context of Forgiveness, just as we cease to feed the animosity we also do not celebrate the downfall of others. Forgiveness means your role to play in the drama of another’s life has ended. When forgiveness is directed at ourselves we stop being the antagonist toward others, and when directed externally we stop being the victim.

Finally, Forgiveness takes time. It has to be enacted consistently, ritually some might say…*cough me, I say that cough*. The memories of the past resurface regularly and with those memories come the emotions tied to them. We will have triggers and moments that spark the onset of these memories. In terms of Forgiveness, we may reexperience the feelings of anger, pain, or sadness. That is perfectly normal in the process. We just have to take a second to repeat and express forgiveness for those moments. It can be physically stating out loud, “I have already forgiven this I offer my forgiveness again.” The more you practice this the less impact those emotions will have when the memories resurface. When the process is “complete,” no longer impactful rather, you will have the memory surface but instead of emotional responses you will look at the memory as a viewer. At this stage, you will begin to see the triggers you had before or gained from the situation. You will see the lessons you had to learn. You will be able to log the events as moments of new wisdom acquired. The list of positive rewards for utilizing forgiveness is practically endless honestly. The most important reward of living in a forgiving mindset is that you will have a stable peace about you and you will notice others wanting you to share that peace with them. 

As we can see, the Forces of the Mind take some explaining to understand. I like to break them down into parts to make them easier to understand because they are complex. Values can usually be summed up in decent one-liners but when we attempt to do that with Forces we end up with part truths and not the full picture. Adding to the confusion around them while minimizing how powerful they are. There are a lot of buzzwords in our society and the Forces of the Mind are getting that treatment too. I have even seen people say, “It’s ok, I forgive you,” with a snarky or snide tone. Forgiveness doesn’t operate like that and neither do any of the other Forces of the Mind. 

They come from a place of indifference or innocence within ourselves. A place of purity void of emotion and intention. A place where we can find the power of creation and inspiration. Forces of the Mind are so close to the source of life that they deserve a deep meaningful explanation and exploration into how they work. When we call on the Forces we are calling on that source of life to provide us aid in our growth and betterment as individuals.

This post did get a little long and I am not sorry in the slightest. The next post will be a deeper exploration of Trust and Understanding as Forces of the Mind. I then want to dedicate an entire post to Gratitude.

The Forces of the Mind are just the tip of complexity as we continue the Fundamentals. That is why I built the posts in this order. Each piece flows into the next and lends to the overall explanation. This is all necessary for when we begin to move out of the Mind and into the realm of Spirit. Forewarning, I am a little against the grain and what is being regurgitated at large in regards to Spirit.

Until then, enjoy the journey, and know I feel very fortunate to have this avenue to share what I have learned with you. 

Welcome back to our exploration of the Forces of the Mind. In the last post, we dove into Forgiveness. Continuing, this post will be dedicated to Trust and Understanding. To quickly recap, the Forces of the Mind are powerful expressions from the universe that when aligned with and utilized help us to be our healthiest selves. What I didn’t mention before is how the Forces of the Mind help the Mind quiet down and communicate with Spirit. 

As stated though, the Forces of the Mind are more than willing and available to help. All we have to do is call on them and they are there. They will never say no to you. Where do we call on them from? We reach into our very core and essence. Our very own piece of innocence when we were first simply a thought in the Creator’s mind. Around that core of innocence was formed the Personal Spirit, followed by the Mind, and then wrapped in the vessel of the Body. 

The Body was first in this series because it is the first layer. We have to peel back these layers to get to our spiritual selves, but each has its avenues to Spirit. We don’t necessarily have to remove the layers to get there like so many try to imply in their teachings. Denying any part of ourselves is a denial of our True Selves. The Forces of the Mind are not necessarily the pathway of the Mind to Spirit, but they do help open the path for us. 

That is why Trust and Understanding are so important to our Foundational development. Forgiveness helps us to cut ourselves free from things distracting our attention in unhealthy and unproductive ways. Trust helps us to grow healthy meaningful relationships with ourselves and with others. Understanding helps us sympathize and empathize with others while having discernment and not letting us fall prey to pity. 

Understanding

“Falling prey to pity,” was kind of a strong statement, but not untrue. Understanding, as a Force of the Mind, is what we utilize to step back and “see.” We open ourselves during this process to perceive everything and the relation between events and circumstances. Through Understanding, we come to learn deeper and on a more personal level. Understanding is what creates what is often called resonance.

Pity is a direct opposition to Understanding. When we live in a mind state of pity we begin to take sides in conflicts or situations both internal and external. If we are taking sides we are not examining all of the angles and ramifications. I once had someone judge me and show pity on lionfish because I said I would love to spear hunt them in the Atlantic Ocean. I did not explain, just expressed that it was an activity I would like to do. The rebuttal was almost immediate and while softy expressed the waves of disappointment and disapproval from their voice and energy were thick. I then had to explain how lionfish are an invasive species in the Atlantic. They reproduce rapidly, eat voraciously, and do not have predators to maintain population control like they naturally have in the Pacific Ocean. Lionfish are destroying Atlantic ecosystems and we caused the problem because they were first introduced to the Atlantic by pet owners releasing them. This problem is our responsibility as humans and our duty to try and repair it as much as possible.

Despite receiving this information, the person refused to step back and understand. They vocalized they still disapproved of my desire to perform that activity, even though the activity is beneficial to entire ecosystems. Their inclination to Pity the animals outweighed their Understanding of the situation. While saying, “falling prey to pity,” might be a strong statement there is an even stronger statement. Lack of Understanding or the Will to Understand leads to bigotry. There is ignorance when you simply don’t know something, and there is willful ignorance. Willful ignorance is bigotry when you have been presented with information or developed a belief based on one solitary reference point and refuse to look at other angles, you are being a bigot. 

Yoda said in Star Wars, “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” That quote is said a lot for a variety of reasons and can be reused to sum up Pity. Pity leads to Intolerance. Intolerance leads to Bigotry. Bigotry leads to Allegiance. When we take sides we are pledging our allegiance and become blind to other factors. This is not the same as taking a stand. Taking a stand comes from Understanding. Taking a stand is to realize what is unhealthy for ourselves, our communities, our society, and our world at large. We then take a stand against what is trying to pollute and corrupt. 

For example, we are in a mental health crisis for society. Yet mental health issues are directly marketed to us. I have been playing games on my phone and inevitably get an advertisement for a different game. The first time I got this particular ad shook me to my core. The ad started with an AI voice saying, “I never knew ANXIETY until I played this game.” My immediate reaction was, “Then why would I want to play that game? I don’t want to create more anxiety for myself.” Understanding though says, “They wouldn’t make advertisements like that unless they worked.” This is when I have to step back and realize that this is an unhealthy construct meant to induce the issue and reduce the magnitude of the issue. Reduction of magnitude is a tool of Allegiance because those with allegiance want to downplay the severity of their side to create more appeal. That is why Understanding helps us to see through these machinations and form more resolute and guided ideals. 

We have to be the ones willing to take that step back though. We have to ask ourselves, “What am I not seeing?” We have to call on Understanding to be present in those moments of making decisions. That is just the first stage of Understanding though. The more we invoke Understanding the more our awareness grows. In the post on Energy, I talked about crystals and how people have repeated the same information about crystals for years. In that post, I described how just because a crystal’s frequency works for one person a certain way does not mean it works for every person that way. The reason is that, just like crystals have their frequencies, we also have our frequencies. My body does not have the same frequency as my brother’s despite our similar genetics. No two quartz crystals have the same shape, clarity, origin, etc despite the similar crystalline compound structure used to classify them as quartz. With Understanding you grow an intimate relationship with yourself and open up to receiving messages from the world around you. You stop just taking in the repetitive information and begin to find how different things work concerning you. Understanding enforces the four Foundational Values I discussed earlier. Understanding often works in partnership with this next Force of the Mind, Trust.

Trust

While Understanding is on a decline in society and needs to be bolstered, Trust on the other hand is diminished to a point it is nearly unrecognizable. There is much to be said about Trust that is probably against the grain of what we have been told to believe.

The first part I want to make exceptionally clear about Trust is that the only way you can “not trust” someone is to have never met them. Trust cannot be “broken” as so many like to say and claim. Trust, as a Force of the Mind, is probably the most resilient of them all. It is not fragile, it IS flexible.

When I described Forgiveness I said that a majority of the time we have to forgive ourselves because we put undue expectations on someone to be us rather than allow them to be themselves. When we say we can no longer trust someone it falls back on us again because we are not seeing them as they are. No other person in existence can fulfill every need we have for connections outside of ourselves.

When times get hard you may sometimes find a friend is not able to help or support you during that time. We get upset and huff off saying, “I can’t trust them. When something matters they are no use.” Yet you loved being around them and they were of use when you just wanted to go out and have fun. 

Different people are in our lives for different reasons. While the fun friend may not be as good at comforting you, the comforting friend isn’t going to be as good at the fun stuff. We are quick to take offense and dismiss people and label them as untrustworthy because they weren’t what we needed when we needed it. That is not their fault though, it is our unrealistic expectations that create this discomfort. 

To push this further, I said, “...they are no use…” We love to lump quantitative values on others rather than see their qualitative values. That is how Trust and Understanding work in tandem with each other. Understanding helps us to see the qualities of other people and Trust is what informs us of the role that person plays in our lives. Every person you meet has a role to play. Even the ones who do purposely malicious acts against us are worthy of our Trust because we come to know their role. I will repeat this until the day I die, the villain of your story is also the hero in someone else’s. That is the essential core of Trust, the realization that every part is essential. 

We as a society are losing this aspect of Trust and are quick to dismiss it now rather than work with it. We dismiss people like batteries that no longer have a charge when we feel their “usefulness” is worn out. Relationships, friendships, etc are not always meant to last forever. People do part ways and that is perfectly normal and healthy. But immediately dismissing others because there is a perceived expiration on their “usefulness” is very unhealthy and diminishing to our species. We are a community-oriented species yet I see so many people embracing independence and condemning co-dependance. We are working backward to become primitive and territorial rather than inclusive and constructive. The reason society or civilization got to the point it is at was because those small communities exhibited Trust and Understanding with each other to build into something greater. This doesn’t mean we have to devote ourselves to everyone in our communities, we need to be our independent authentic selves and respect the independent authentic selves of our neighbors. Trust helps us to recognize that each individual has strengths that can help benefit those without those strengths. We grow as a society through working together in unity rather than individuals chasing personal glory.

Trust, as a Force of the Mind, really needs to be revisited in our world. We have such a skewed perception of it and we can see how that has been leading to our downfall. With Understanding, I spoke about bigotry and part of what breeds that bigotry is this skewed idea we have of Trust. Trust involves more than our relationships with others. It also involves the information we are being given. “Facts are facts,” right? What if I told you facts are only important if the opinions of others agree that the facts are important? For a few years now I have told people opinions are more important than facts. Opinions have power over facts. We can say all the tried and tested facts we want, but if a person is not willing to receive that information they won’t agree to it. That comes down to Trust again. We are so focused on this independence theory that unless we conclude a fact ourselves, we “don’t trust” the work others have done. I love watching How to Cook That with Ann Reardon on YouTube because of the detailed debunking videos she makes. Her debunking videos show how easily misinformation and dangerous actions proliferate with little consequence to the ones spreading those statements.

This is leading to an overload of misguidance in our society. From the debates on vaccinations to political arenas and even topics as important as basic nutrition. Fear-mongering and warmongering are rampant. It is no wonder we have a distorted take on Trust because we adopted the mindset, “The only one I can rely on or trust is me, myself, and I.” Yet we don’t even exhibit trust in ourselves. If we did we would stop putting limiting and debilitating beliefs on ourselves. I doodle and sketch and I hate when I hear people say, “I don’t have the talent to do that.” Yes! You do! Talent is not something we are born with. It is acquired through work, consistency, and dedication. Genius is something we can be born with but even genius can be overshadowed by talent. If geniuses just rest on their laurels and don’t apply themselves or strive to work hard to further develop their genius, a person with talent can easily surpass a genius. Trust in yourself and you can acquire whatever talent you want. People walk around like zombies today not because they don’t have what they want. It's because they refuse to Trust themselves enough to accept or strive for what they want. We give up. 

Just as pity or allegiance are the antithesis of Understanding, quitting is the antithesis of Trust. We quit on ourselves. We quit on people. We quit on society. The list goes on and on. We aren’t willing to put forth the work and effort and then we say things like, “I cannot trust ____.” You can, but you don’t want to because to trust means to be vulnerable. 

Look inside and around. As above, so below. As within, so without. Seek to Understand what is happening around you beyond the surface levels. Trust in others and yourself. When Understanding and Trust come together and are acted upon they become the instrument to carry forth manifestation which is another buzzword. We have this crazy idea that manifestation is just a strong desire that comes true. Real manifestation comes from work and dedication. Without Understanding all the parts needed for your desire, without Trust in others to support your desire, and without Trust in yourself to do the work manifestation sits on the shelves of our dreams. 

I want to live in a world where everything is possible because people make the impossible possible every day. I won’t get to see that if we continue the way we have though. Speaking of desires though, the next post will wrap up this foundational exploration of Forces of the Mind. It will be dedicated to Gratitude, which is so much more involved than just being “thankful.”

Thank you for reading and I will see you next time. Until then, do something to inspire yourself today. Trust me, it's worth it. 

We now come to the last of what I consider the Foundational Forces of the Mind. From what has been described, it is pretty apparent how they can be considered “foundational.” Again, there are more to be explored and experienced but these are a great way to get started.

Spiritual lifestyles and paths are not easy ways out of life or living. People who lead spiritual lives are not expecting miracles and easy fixes. We learn of these tools to help us navigate life to ensure we have the most enriched and fulfilling life possible.

I once saw, on a social media platform, a person asked, “Do older people in spirituality exhibit regret later in life?” I thought through the question briefly and thought about all the people I have learned from directly or indirectly. The people I know of who are older than me and have walked in spirituality much longer than I have. I confidently answered the question, “No, they do not.” There is a certain freedom we experience the longer we walk a spiritual path. Freedom from guilt, regret, remorse, etc. 

There is an inherent light or aura that pulsates from within themselves. This quality creates a magnetism and awe in others who come to them seeking guidance. People do this because they recognize something different about “spiritual” elders, something they are missing in their lives. 

When a person walks a spiritual path for long enough they come to a point where they experience Gratitude. They realize the deep truth of Gratitude and how to exhibit it daily. Knowing it is a Force of the Mind is very different from utilizing it as a Force of the Mind. Forgiveness, Understanding, and Trust take time to put into rhythmic, or ritualistic, practice. Each one stands on its own but can help the others to be more effective. Forgiveness can help us to understand more clearly. Understanding can help us see the qualities of others. Trust can help us to realize the roles others play in our lives and when we need to forgive them or ourselves. It is not just a circular pattern though, I encourage you to explore the different combinations you can make with each.

Gratitude, though, is a deeper Force of the Mind. It requires the use of those first three to be able to work with it. Most people believe that gratitude is simply being thankful. Thankfulness is one tiny piece of the puzzle. Gratitude has gotten the buzzword treatment same as love, trust, forgive, spiritual, etc. People go into this mindset of, “Oh, all I need to have a spiritual lifestyle is ‘said buzzwords.’” Then they walk around professing these words without actually taking the time to understand them or be actionable with them. 

“I am grateful for my home.” Why are you grateful for your home?

“I am grateful for my job.” Why are you grateful for your job?

“I am grateful for my family.” Why are you grateful for your family?

Asking the question, “Why,” after each of those statements has gotten me some mixed results from people. Some go into long dissertations trying to prove their gratitude, but not to me, to themselves. Others stumble for a minute and say, “I just am,” or, “Because I am supposed to be.”

That is thankfulness, not gratitude. 

Gratitude has a few moving parts to it. As I said, you need the first three Forces of the Mind to act on Gratitude. Understanding allows us to see all of the parts moving in sync around us. How we are connected to each part and how we maintain our autonomy without getting lost in those connections. Trust allows us to grow with ourselves and with others. We learn to form partnerships gaining assistance from those with strengths we do not have ourselves. We learn to recognize the strengths we have and how to allow ourselves to strive for what we want out of life rather than feeling defeated and empty. Forgiveness frees us from things that limit us or distract us from our goals and desires. Gratitude is recognizing what we have, what we need, and what we want.

Gratitude is more than just the “good” things in your life. It honors the challenging things too. That job you state you’re grateful for, what happens if you lose it or something changes to make it a curse instead of a blessing? That house you’re grateful for, what happens if something major breaks and costs a lot of money to fix or you start to realize you want more or less room? You’re grateful for your family until you have a major disagreement and need to step away from them. For most people, when challenges come along gratitude seems to go out the window. True gratitude is there for the challenges though.

Gratitude for What We Have

Overall, it's “easy” to see what we have if we just look. That’s why gratitude is not just about being thankful. If it was that easy I would not be taking the time to go into depth about it. I would be following the masses and saying, “Be thankful for what you have to show gratitude.” But being thankful and being grateful are two different things. 

Thankfulness is the first part of Gratitude as we already mentioned. We look around us at what we have and we express our thankfulness. Just being thankful for the sake of being thankful is not deep though. We use Understanding to discern the reasons that we should be thankful for the things we have. We also need to go beyond just the physical “things” or “people”. We have our health, our will to survive, our breath, and so many intangible things, concepts, or ideas which we should express thankfulness for. We ask the question “why” when we find something we are thankful for. Why am I thankful? We get through that outer layer and start to pick things apart. 

For example, I am thankful for my family. It has not been the easiest or smoothest relationship. There has been abuse, mental and physical. There has been much fighting and headbutting. There have been distances and boundaries. There have been times of quiet and deep emotional conversations. I have had to cover a lot of memories in forgiveness. I have had to realize my tone when speaking with them to not trigger them. I have had to recognize the small victories I have had in our relationship while accepting their victories. Our relationship has grown and become stronger over time and now when I say I am thankful for my family it is because I understand and trust them. I know what I can talk to them about and what I can’t. I know what views I can be challenged by to help my growth. I know that being around my family can be stressful and induce anxiety but that builds my resilience and patience. 

Being thankful and moving towards grateful means we look at every angle and realize there are more than just simple acts to be thankful for. We say, “thank you,” to people for things like holding a door open or complimenting us. Does that mean we are grateful to them? Not really, because it was a simple act that we don’t have a deep connection to other than a moment of kindness expressed towards us. Thankfulness can be instinctual and pass in a moment. Rarely does it reach deep into your heart and pull out emotions. 

Gratitude for What We Need

The second part of Gratitude is what we need. This is usually where gratitude is lost because we tend to think that being thankful for what we have is enough. What about what we no longer have? You see, we focus on “lack” or “removal” as a negative thing, and because of that connotation, we forget to be grateful for what we don’t have. We forget that sometimes what we need is to do without. 

Or, we need what we do have and nothing more. We seem to always want more more more. Do we need more though? Need in terms of gratitude is recognizing what we need to have and what we do not need. 

I had an apartment with a stressful, anxiety-inducing roommate. I lost that and was homeless for about a year. During that time I stayed with a few friends, reclaimed my peace, and released the stress and trauma of that previous living situation. I found my new apartment, moved in, and now have a peaceful home without roommates. The space is my own and I determine what is allowed in or not. I had a decent-paying job but it caused a lot of stress and anxiety. I would cry sometimes when going to work or when leaving. I fought tooth and nail to make the job work and fight through the pain. When I got cut during a massive company layoff and was removed from that workplace, my friends were all saying, “How are you so calm and cheerful now? You were so stressed and now you’re the one singing, ‘Don’t worry, be happy,’ while we are the ones stressing out. I don’t have a car at the time of writing this. The job I have now doesn’t pay as well as the last and if I did have a car I wouldn’t be able to afford the note, insurance, or gas to pay for it. I would also be on the road all the time spending money I really shouldn’t. The job I have pays the bills I need to be paid.  

We like to equate Gratitude with the seemingly good things in life and forget that loss is sometimes necessary. We should absolutely show Gratitude for having what we need. We also must remember that the things taken from us are taken for a reason. We need to utilize Gratitude in these moments because when we lack understanding of why things are removed we gravitate towards projecting anger, bitterness, or petulance. That longer paragraph above shows a lot of things that were removed from my life and at the moment there was a brief flash of irritation at each. There’s no need to deny the emotions we feel in the moment. I didn’t sit and wallow in those emotions though. I looked for reasons why those removals would benefit my life rather than sit and cry, “Woe is me.” I moved on from them and thrive now from lacking the stress those things brought. 

Gratitude helps us realize what has been holding us back sometimes and how it is okay to let things go. Enjoy what was for the time it lasted and move on to the next adventures in life. Show gratitude that what is no longer building you up has been removed. It was needed to continue along your path. If thankfulness is the value of what we have, appreciation is the value we assign to what we need. We appreciate having what we need and we appreciate the removal of what we do not need.

Gratitude for What We Want

The final key to Gratitude is utilizing it for what we want. How can we be grateful for what we don’t have or need? It's simple really, when we show Gratitude for our desires we are laying a claim on them. We are making a declaration to the universe itself that says, “This is what I want and I am grateful for when it manifests and the road I have to travel for that manifestation.” This is a two-fold approach.

1. We are stating what we want. Long-term or short-term goals aren’t necessary to dwell on. The point is we are making it known this is what we want. Declaration.

2. We are stating we are willing to be open to the work and opportunities needed to achieve these goals. Dedication.

Declarations are powerful and create a sense of ownership. Most often people will kind of talk about their dreams or goals, but then hide it behind other things. They adopt limiting beliefs like not knowing what it will take to achieve their goals or saying they want something but they don’t feel “good enough.” When a person has had enough of being downtrodden they usually break through all of the limiting beliefs with a declaration. This declaration overpowers the adopted beliefs because it is a summoning of their power. Summoning your power will always banish the limiting statements others have lumped on you. 

Like when you are a child and singing along to your favorite song, someone may have said to stop because they didn’t like your singing. Those things linger and stop you from becoming a singer. Singing is a talent though and acquirable through practice. When we declare, “I want to sing,” those previous statements from childhood cannot hold any longer. 

Dedication is the follow-through after making a declaration. Above I said people don’t know what to do or how to make their dreams into reality. The first step is research. Look it up. We live in an amazing age with information in our pockets. And if you have been exercising Understanding and Trust you get better at discernment. Discernment is how we sift through the information presented to us and learn what does and does not serve us. While there may be an overload of information to discern, that doesn’t mean there isn’t healthy information too. One thing I look for is commonalities and then follow up with experimentation. If information raises more questions, research those questions. Follow the rabbit holes and make your judgments. Once you have the information, create a game plan and follow it.

Declarations and Dedications are how we show gratitude for the things we want. Acceptance is how we utilize gratitude for what we want. We accept ahead of time that our declaration will be heard and returned to us. We accept that if we open ourselves to the process through dedication we make it easier for our declaration to be realized.

Here is where people tend to get off course though. They make declarations but do not do the work to receive the return. Think of it like an investment. Once you make a declaration, you have invested in your future in the universe. The universe will hear this and return with an answer. The answer could be a resounding, “Yes! And here it is!” More often you will get a, “No, now is not the right time. You need a few more tools in your utility belt first.” 

The universe doesn’t typically say, “No, never.” It more often says, “No, not right now.” The reason for that is that if you go from zero to peak the only way to go from there is back down. If instead, you listen to the answers of the universe, you will realize that when you make a declaration you getting little bricks. These bricks are to be laid in specific spaces to build a foundation that you can stand on. Let’s stick with singers as an example of this. Lady Gaga spent years studying music before she released any of her own. She built stability that created amazing success. Rebecca Black on the other hand released one song and became ridiculed mercilessly. She did not understand how to be stable in a music career nor did she have the extensive training as someone like Lady Gaga. She still makes music but it is not nearly the resounding success as others. 

That can be applied to any field though. Vincent van Gogh’s paintings were not considered masterpieces till long after he died for another example.  How do we avoid tragedy? We make our declarations, accept that our desires will be met, remain open to possibilities and opportunities to guide us toward our goal, and dedicate ourselves to whatever is necessary for our goal to manifest. We do all of this in Gratitude because when we make a declaration of our desires we already know it will manifest. And we show gratitude for each nugget or stepping stone given to us along the way.

Thankfulness, Appreciation, and Acceptance are three values that go into the Force of Gratitude. Forgiveness helps us to let go of what we no longer need. Understanding helps us know what we should be thankful and appreciative of. Trust helps us accept ourselves and our ability to manifest our desires. It all works hand in hand with the Mind. The Mind is a swirling storm constantly going through all of these types of thoughts. When we can recognize the different workings we can begin to have conscious control over these. We begin to “see” the threads of our lives and where the knots and tangles are.

Utilizing the Forces of the Mind we undo these knots and tangles. We then begin to weave the threads the way we see fit. Instead of a tangled ball, we begin to create a beautiful rich fabric of our lives. Gratitude is one of the most powerful Forces of the Mind. It's wonderful when utilized to its fullest potential. Gratitude, when experienced at its height, can bring the most proud of people to their knees. When that dream is finally realized. When things are falling in place just right. When the problems are finally gone. While there are tears of joy, people are more often overcome with tears of gratitude. They just don’t always recognize it as such because they only think of it in terms of thankfulness. 

I am grateful for you sticking with me through this three-part mini-series of Forces of the Mind. If you have been reading along it shows me that something I have been saying is resonating with you. This tells me that my desire to demystify the mystical is coming true. 

Coming next is “protection” which is going to be a pretty large topic that I will try to condense. Until then, I hope you have a fantastic week!

A busy ship crew taking care of all the tasks needed for smooth voyages.