Stillness · “Stillness Reveals”
Mulford's Thought Forces
Treat thought as a real force and a finite resource: stop leaking it on worry, fear, and regret; deliberately hold to cheerful, hopeful, grateful thoughts; and quietly demand of the Supreme Power the good you want — thereby attracting more ‘thought-element’ of the kind you cultivate.
Treat thought as finite force. Catch and drop the leaks — worry, fear, regret, anger. Calmly demand of the Infinite the good you want, as already granted. Hold a cheerful, hopeful, grateful tone through the day. Rest and let it recharge; don’t strain. As you stop wasting force, you draw more of the kind you keep.
What it is
Prentice Mulford — the Gold Rush–era writer whose pamphlet series Your Forces, and How to Use Them helped launch New Thought — taught that thoughts are real forces, “things” with substance, and that each person is constantly spending a finite store of thought-energy.
His signature practice is therefore one of conservation and direction: stop the leaks (worry, fear, anger, grief, regret), deliberately hold to hopeful and grateful thought, and quietly draw on the “Supreme Power” / “Infinite Mind” for the good you desire.
Like a battery, the mind that stops discharging itself on the negative recharges and “attracts” more of whatever element it dwells in.
The Method
- Recognize thought as force and as expense. “Thoughts are things” — every mood is an expenditure of real energy. Worry and fear are the great wasters, draining vitality and “sending out” the very element that returns to you.
- Stop the leaks (conserve). Watch for and refuse to indulge the draining thoughts — anxiety about the future, regret over the past, anger, grief held too long. Mulford: “the persistent thought of disease, accident, or misfortune. is the seed which brings the bitter fruit.” Cut the rumination; don’t feed it.
- Demand the good of the Supreme Power. Mulford’s positive act is a calm, expectant demand (not a beggarly plea): “Ask the Supreme Power, the Infinite, for the thing you want,” holding it as already granted. Trust quietly that the request is heard and answered.
- Hold to the hopeful, grateful state. Deliberately keep the mind in cheer, hope, and gratitude — “The Law of Success is, first, the cheerful, hopeful frame of mind.” Gratitude in particular keeps the channel open and the energy replenished.
- Rest and let it work (recharge). Don’t strain. As you stop wasting force and hold the positive, you “attract” more thought-element of the same kind; quiet expectancy, not effortful willing, completes the practice. (Sourcing note: quoted phrases are from Your Forces, and How to Use Them; the numbered structure is an attributed paraphrase of Mulford’s scattered essays.)
Source & Lineage
Prentice Mulford (1834–1891) — sailor, humorist, and hermit-philosopher — wrote the White Cross Library essays (collected as Your Forces, and How to Use Them) in the late 1880s.
With Warren Felt Evans and others he gave New Thought its early vocabulary of “thought forces” and the attractive power of mood; his phrase “thoughts are things” became a movement motto.
Common refinements
Spending where you mean to save. Re-running a fear “to deal with it” is still feeding it; the practice is to drop it, not analyze it endlessly.
- Begging instead of demanding. Mulford’s “demand” is calm, certain expectancy — anxious pleading re-installs the lack.
- Forcing the positive. Straining to think positive is itself a leak; the aim is an easy, rested, grateful tone.
- Ignoring the body. Mulford also urged rest, nature, and avoiding draining company — the energy model is practical, not purely mental.