Often writing about the Department of Veterans Affairs leaves my mind dark and argumentative. My solution is to write something more uplifting, taking a mental break from the drudgery of bureaucrats abusing people. Thus, this article was born from a desire to uplift, guide, and offer hope during a confusing, chaotic, and calamitous time.
In junior high school, I was first exposed to a proverb, saying, blessing, curse, or Chinese expression, “May you always live in interesting times.” I like this saying and consider it a gift. How boring would life be if we lived in uninteresting times? More to the point, consider all the opportunities found when living in interesting times. Opportunities to learn, grow, help, and more, all because we have personally learned to ride the whirlwind of interesting times. With utmost sincerity, I hope you also will always live in interesting times.
Ken Blanchard offers some guidance:
“Asking for others’ guidance helps you see what you may not be able to see. It’s always important to check your ego and ask for help.”
Two things about this quote stand out:
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- Ask – Asking for help, guidance, or support is one of the toughest things a person can do. Unfortunately, point number two is always getting in the way.
- Check your EGO! – How often have you asked for help, only to find the support provided clashed with how you thought, and time was wasted not listening, not doing, and not trusting the information provided?
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I do not know about you, but I need to check my ego, lock it in a box, and listen more reflectively a couple of thousand times a day. Apologizing to the person rendering guidance after wasting time not believing the advice the first time is even more difficult than not heeding the support the first time and having to ask a second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. time. Instead of exemplifying myself, learn from my scars, listen, check ego, and ask for guidance.
I offer the following as an appendage to guidance:
“Train your mind to see good in everything. Positivity is a choice. The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.”
Our minds require training; this is a universal principle applicable to every mortal. Training happens through the choices we make and the consequences natural to each choice. Emotion is a choice, feelings are a choice, and thoughts can be controlled through training. Can someone make you mad? No! You choose to respond to external stimuli based on how you judge the social situation and your desires. Hence your inner peace and mental well-being are a choice.
In affirming the choices and emotions/feelings, let me succinctly express that what you eat, drink, think, listen to, watch, etc., all plays roles in how you train your mind. Choosing to see the good in other people will never happen if you surround yourself with negativity. Feeling depressed, anxious, or worse, start within yourself. What are you reading, watching, listening to, eating, drinking, etc., that worsens your depression, anxiety, or ability to enjoy good and feel good? In psychology, this is called “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT),” and the research is fascinating on the application and self-help through taking charge of your inputs to change the outputs and outlooks.
I am not trying to negate the need for professional help in extreme cases, and before making medication changes, please talk to your mental health provider. While there, discuss CBT, and do some research on this topic. The quality of our lives depends on our thoughts, and the quality of thoughts relies entirely upon the inputs into our brains. I struggle with depression, anxiety, and PTSD, but when I am more intentional about what goes into my brain, the less these issues can affect me. Often, I have to take my inputs on a minute-to-minute basis to maintain positivity. You can take charge of your brain and train it to output more positivity.
On my second trip through fourth grade, I was encouraged to learn the following and make a choice:
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
The author was unknown, but the school principal made the challenge after a visit for being a jerk. My principal explained that what I was exemplifying, being a jerk would mean that the world would be a jerk back. So, if I wanted to be treated differently, I had to be what I wanted returned. A tough lesson in fourth grade, even more difficult to remember as time passed, even though I accepted the challenge to change.
What do you want to see in the world? Unfortunately, a colloraly question demands attention: is what you want to see in the world positive or negative? For example, a person I met wanted to see more violence in the world and worked exceedingly hard to create more violence around themselves. Unfortunately, violence has a way of escaping control, and this person received more violence than they started. Call it Karma, Murphy, or something else; the universe seems to have an excellent boomerang device, and what is sent out many times is multiplied and delivered in such a manner as to inspire changing values when returned to you.
Hence, while guidance might be akin to a small tea light, everything might not become apparent immediately, but your next step is clearer than the darkness. Ask for guidance, check ego, and be the change you want through mental training, but first, believe you can do this!
Hope is an interesting power. Hollywood made this clear when a demon on Angel (a TV Show spun-off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 1 Episode 14) made the following comment:
“I had given up… Hope.”
The demon character spoke of the blackest pit, the harshest and most hellacious place they had ever entered. A mind devoid of light, humanity, and hope led the demon to give up hope and begin to fear, contemplating never being able to escape. While fiction, the point is clear, hope is a powerful tool, and with it, our minds can grasp, cling, and strive. Without it, there is a bottomless pit of black despair.
Hope is a relief to grief, music in a tuneless void, light on the darkest path, and a rescue rope flung to others. Yet, to express hope, society claims you’re a “cockeyed optimist,” all while society flails about without hope. Society will always scorn what they do not have; lacking hope, society will always try to negate hope in others while denying it to themselves. Why is training thoughts so essential; to shield your mind from the inputs of negativity. What is the shield you raise; hope!
Samuel Johnson, speaking about hope, said:
“Hope is itself a species of happiness, and perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords.”
Suzanne Collins expressed a similar thought stating:
“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.”
But, many ask, what do we hope in? What do we hope for? Sure, Pliny the Elder is supposed to have said:
“Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man.”
Religionists will claim that what we hope in, and for, is deliverance from death. Others will claim we need to invest hope in a god, God, or gods. Yet, does this answer the question of what to hope for or where to place our hope? For some, maybe; for others, maybe not. I struggle with hope and would like to offer a couple of potential answers:
We begin with a firm understanding of what hope is. Hope is a desire coupled with an expectation the desire will be delivered. For example, in the dark of the night, we hope for sunrise. We expect sunrise to arrive eventually, and when it does arrive, we feel something as we witness a new day dawn — expectation coupled with desire, including a feeling upon delivery.
Some will contend, based on Plato, Socrates, or other philosophers and philosophies, that things hoped for are entirely outside the control of a person. Yes, the sunrise is outside a person’s control, but choosing to feel hope in something is entirely inside a person’s control. Remember the demon, who corrupts people for personal gain, felt hopeless and despaired due to external circumstances. You control the mind; thus, you are always in control of feeling hope – an expectation coupled with desire that includes a feeling upon delivery, often associated with feelings of uncertainty and defiance.
Defiance as an aspect of hope allows the prisoner to spit in the eye of the guards and accepts the consequences, which generally take the form of physical violence. Uncertainty will enable us to turn a light switch on to “see if the electrical power is back.” Expressions of hope come in many forms, but the central figure in expressing and feeling hope is our minds; we control, and thus we cling to hope.
Is hope optimism; no, and hope is also not faith. Distinct differences make hope individual, and we must grasp these differences to understand the power and grandeur of hope. The major difference between hope and optimism is centralized around significance that reflects a claim about ourselves. Pessimists possess hope because something is significant and valuable to them that they can hope for. Faith is a firm belief in things not seen but for which hope is invested and the faithful person will work to bring about. Thus, optimism and faith possess elements of hope but remain distinct and individual. The faith-filled person will find faith challenging to work towards lacking hope, and the optimist will find hope without significance difficult to possess. Hence we can deduce that hope is a type of power, and through hope, faith and optimism receive additional capacity in a person’s life.
Imagine Sisyphus for a moment; each day begins, and the rock he is to roll is at the bottom of a hill. Each day ends, the rock is at the top of the hill. The rock moves up the hill daily through his sweat and labor. Why does Sisyphus move the rock? He hopes to keep the rock on top of the hill. He recognizes that the task is arduous, but he possesses hope, and through hope, he moves the rock. The power of hope is an impetus to motivation, lifting any person to work and, through work’s drudgery, to hope for a future different from today.
Hope first lifts thoughts if we choose to allow it, and the person becomes empowered to do something from lifted thoughts. Do we catch the hinge; choice. The human is the one mammal on the earth that possesses the ability to hope, projecting hope into a future changed from the present. The lack of hope is despair, filling the individual with fear, but these are both choices. We choose, and in choosing, natural consequences follow. How we value those consequences determines whether we value or disregard the choice/consequence cycle previously, which leads to new choices and perceptions, producing more consequences and choices.
We invest hope in the future, for a brighter tomorrow, and for improved situations, employment, friends, family, health, etc. Too often, what we hope for is locked in our choices, thoughts, and inputs into our brains in training to make tomorrow different from today. Some people will add religion, and I am not disregarding the power of personally held beliefs that form the basis for religious tenets. Religion helps to lengthen the event horizon, formalize faith and hope, and provides more to hope in and for. Hope is a power fundamental to the human condition, of which all religions, including atheism, agree.
Religionists generally will place hope in something, eternal life, the Savior, a cross, enlightenment, etc., which hope easily leads to faith, and the works needed to obtain the hoped-for desire. How you invest your hope reflects a choice, a passion, centralizes thoughts, and produces an appetite that moves you to action. Recognize the hinge, choices remain central to using hope, and the natural consequences provide opportunities to choose whether that which is hoped in and for to become a reality or to morph into something else more desirable. Truly, we can understand how thoughts become things and the power of thoughts.
May this find you well and help provide new ideas for building your future.
© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.
Consider a well-known truth that never appears to be fully understood, does a man sow thistles and reap strawberries? Leo J. Muir’s book, “Flashes from the Eternal Semaphore,” lists this as the fifth semaphore, and of the six semaphores, this one is probably my favorite to discuss. Not because I am sowing rocks and reaping corn and beans, but because I often sow rancid vegetables and reap garbage, then wonder why I cannot improve my harvest. As the writings on flash four stated, “Thy speech betrayeth thee,” I am a slow learned and generally only really grasp things after experiencing some consequences that would kill others. As we discuss the Law of the Harvest, please note I am not here to convince or convert, merely to help myself. If you find value in this topic, join me, teach me, that we may both then learn more perfectly.
Can you relate to your experiences with planting and harvesting? What are you teaching and semaphoring? Dr. Johnson adds a comment worth remembering: “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” While Dr. Johnson is correct, there is a “
Long have I hoped that the government of Justin Trudeau in Canada would have listened and heeded the voices of the truckers, farmers, and citizens of Canada long before writing on this topic. Unfortunately, Trudeau chooses to be tone-deaf to all voices but the ones in his head and those pouring money into his political coffers. Trudeau’s craven, cowardly, and corrupted government remains a disgusting and deleterious mark against the history of freedom. The history books will mark him the “Low-Water Mark” in Canada’s history, as I believe the people of Canada are fed up! Time will tell.
Trudeau, are you listening? Using the tools (Police Officers) to steal fuel from truckers is the definition of theft and is illegal! Encouraging those in government, who have always longed to be a Storm Trooper to act in a manner that removes liberty and freedom while threatening the lives and livelihoods of others, is NOT how to govern in any representative government. Trudeau, Biden, pay close attention; you are authoritarians and have broken the social contract inherent in your ability to govern. Lacking the authority to govern means your only way to escape is to leave power!
Let’s say you do not like the vaccine mandates; in a socialized medicine country, the government says, “Tough! Take the jab!” Then use the power of Storm Trooper bureaucrats to ensure you do what they demand. In a non-socialized medicine country, the government is as powerful and refuses to be idle. As has been witnessed in America, the government continues to employ whatever means necessary to confuse, blind, and sow chaos to win the power to demand you get the jab. Lusting after power that rightly belongs to the electorate has become a game for the government, and insufficient numbers of people understand what is happening and the long-term effects. Worse, the enemies of freedom and liberty already know the long-term consequences and are salivating at the thought of controlling others for personal gain!
In my youth, I watched the Monica Lewinsky debacle with abhorrence! Watching President Bill Clinton use an apology, which wasn’t an apology, for political course correction and stave off impeachment proceedings sickened me! How many times has the same non-apology tactic worked? Let’s ask Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Governors Newsome, Grisham, and Whitmer, as well as countless others who have made non-apologies. Are the fruits of the 7-Deadly Sins and 7-Virtues apparent; maybe not; let’s use another example.
Those who uphold and honor the 7-Virtues in their lives do not plasticize words. For example calling peaceful citizens gathered to importune the government for redress, terrorists, racists, and fascists. Leaders who desire to be honored and kept in office do not spend the public’s money like drunken sailors on a 3-day port visit. Elected representatives embody the 7-Virtues reflecting their commitment to living as an honor of the trust the public has invested in them. These leaders do not take bribes, sell access, and do not execute a lavish lifestyle paid for by big donors to the detriment of the electorate electing them to office.
Some would say the biggest lie in America is, “I’m from the government, and I am here to help you.” While this is definitely a contender as a massive lie, there is one more insidious, and they have played the victim card for too long while being a festering wound on America’s soul. Yes, the biggest lie in America is, “I’m from Hollywood, and I am here to entertain you.” Maybe, this wasn’t a lie originally, as all good lies must contain an element of truth to keep people believing the lie; the truth is a glimmer of hope, people cling to hope, even when they know that the hope originates in a lie.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) – Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG) is filling my inbox by mid-week again, and the volume never ceases to amaze and mystify. Over the last 10+ years of reporting on the VA-OIG reports, I have learned that when the volume is exceedingly high by mid-week, there are reports the VA-OIG is hoping to get overlooked in the crush. Luckily for them, I am here to ensure nothing gets overlooked; you’re welcome!
The VA-OIG conducted a 
Imagine you are going about your daily duties and visit the grocery store. Where for a specific amount of confidence and hope, you complete an exchange for a product groceries. Another trip sees you investing hope and faith in retirement using confidence to help protect against the vagaries of the future. April 15th is fast approaching, where confidence in the government is measured through tax revenue, and government officials then spend your confidence on various projects where you hope the investment will be rewarded by improved roads, better economic conditions, and safety inside defensible and sovereign boundaries.
I ask, because too often, when hope is mentioned, people immediately tie religious expectations and connotations to the word, then plasticize hope into being something it is not. Hope is not an end goal but the journey to an expectation born of desire and bounded by trust in a system that supports a person’s hope.
Complete trust is observable all around us daily, from inserting the key into the car ignition to start a car to the hours spent working where we trade our time (a precious resource) for a tangible item (paycheck) and in so many other ways and means. Consider grocery shopping; we make selections using our best judgment, with complete trust that the products purchased will not make us sick from food-borne illness or the ignorant or malicious actions of other people. Why does spitting in a police officer’s cup of coffee make us mad; because it breaks that complete trust that the same will not happen to us.
Confidence is a unique term, and Webster spends an inordinate amount of time trying to capture the power of, and reality is confidence. Confidence is “a feeling of self-assurance arising from one’s appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities; firm trust, a specific feeling regarding the truth of something, a feeling or belief upon the reliance of someone or something.” The key to confidence is your own self-assurance. For example, you are assured through past transactions that your employer is not kiting paychecks. Your confidence in receiving a salary drives you to be motivated and return to work each day. When that trust is broken, you will leave and find new employment. Hence, people do not work for companies, but for managers and leaders, they like.
Confidence is never an unconscious decision! One cannot have firm trust, faith, or hope, in something without being consciously aware and possessing experience and knowledge in that someone or something. Hence, confidence is the conscious use of trust as a destination in the journey of hope, launched by faith.
By removing the Gold Standard from money, we stopped trading in a fungible and tactile substance (Gold, Silver, Grain, Salt, Animal Hides, etc.). We began trading in a measured system of confidence as provided by the government. Your “money” is nothing but your faith and trust in the government sponsoring your system of confidence be that confidence called a US Dollar, a Rial, a Pound Sterling, a Euro, etc., you deal in nothing but confidence. Raw products with tradable value, grain, precious metals, oil, etc., are all injected into the monetary system through investment and speculation markets, not the individual farmer, rancher, miner, etc. Who receive their wages not through trading their products but by trading their efforts and time with their confidence in an employer-supported by a functioning government system.
A “Liberty FIRST Culture” understands their money relationships to government, is engaged in preventing government abuse as that leads to lower values of currency, and the lower the value of a currency, the more expensive products and services become. Kate, the blacksmith from the (2001) movie “Knight’s Tale,” is absolutely correct, “Each drop of sweat has a price!” But the price of that sweat is not always competitive with the currency used to remunerate that effort, all because of hope, faith, and confidence in the government managing the currency. Think about that the next time you are asked to vote!
Too often, I find the most underrated tool is the power of hope. The role hope plays, the importance of hope, and the necessity of hope continue to fascinate me as an Industrial and Organizational Psychologist, people-watcher, and person. My goal here is to help those struggling with hope find for themselves the value and power of hope.
Not going to lie or rose tint the topic, hope gets a bad rap. Hope carries a lot of baggage that is unfair, unjust, and false. Hope is a method of thinking, using the principles of agency and agentic action as a power to think differently on the subjects that concern you. Hope involves both will and imagination in understanding where you are going and how you plan to obtain your goals. Hope is often the snowplow on the path to your destination.
The power of hope!
Ability is important, but hope even trumps ability. With hope, I can learn that which I do not know and want to become skilled at. Without hope, those dreams never have a ladder built to the sky where the dreams reside. Potential is important, but without hope, potential cannot be achieved.
Hope is not a religious action, theme, or tool. Hope is not limited to or restricted by believers but by individuals choosing to hope or not. Hope is the power that is missing in democratic societies worldwide and is one of the first positions that liberal leftists and militant, angry people attack because they refuse hope, and in refusing hope, deny the best of themselves for a façade that is nothing more than water and gluten pressed into toilet paper. Every time they experience failure, these people become angrier and less inclined to hope, building more facades, and losing more of themselves daily.
Loyal Oppositionists never use violence to control the thoughts of others. We refute ideas with more potent ideas. We employ words, conviction, and confidence. We love the freedom found under the “Rule of Law.” We are constructive in our comments, truthful, and we research and report, even if it means we must improve our individual actions to meet the US Constitution’s ideals. Now, more than ever in American History, America needs loyal oppositionists to step forward, answer the call, and defend liberty against the tyranny that has been thrust upon us.
Our duty to be loyal oppositionists begins now! We must be faithful to the US Constitution but oppose heart and soul the radicalization, weaponization, and government’s terror. That the liberal leftists have corrupted our neighbors into aiding and abetting the destruction of liberty is not new. But ending the rot, fixing the problems, and rising to the challenge is where we focus. We do not have a rear-view mirror as loyal oppositionists; we have a windshield as we move forward. We build, we support the good where we find it, we dig in against the enemy that would tear us apart, and we find strength from the cause of liberty. As we do this, we will discover America is strong. America is great. America can survive!
DNC-Consulting 