Why Mindset Is Everything – How To Change
Your Mindset
Can mindset really be changed?
Over the past year, I have really started to understand the phrase “mindset is everything”. I have also realized how much power we have over changing and improving our mindset. I’m not saying that this is easy by any means. If you would have asked me two years ago if I thought I could change my mindset, I would have said no. Now I’ve seen that it is possible. Due to my revelation, I wanted to share with you why mindset is truly everything and what you can do to work on changing yours.
What does "mindset" mean?
Mindset basically is your thoughts and beliefs as well as the attitude you have towards things and experiences. Your mindset shapes your habits and determines how you interact with life. In the simplest of terms, you can break this down into a positive or negative mindset.
To determine if you are living more positively or negatively ask yourself these two questions:
When things go wrong do you jump straight to negative emotions or do you try to look at the bright side of things and the lessons you can learn from the experience? When things are going great are you just waiting for something bad to take its place or do you truly let yourself experience happiness and joy?
If you found yourself picking the first option of these two questions you may be living in a more negative based mindset but that’s ok! You have the power to change this.
Why does mindset matter so much?
When we react to situations with negative emotions this tends to impact the rest of our day. Ever have one of those days where you feel like everything is going wrong?
Try to look at it this way; is everything really going wrong or are we just looking for things to be upset about? Are things going in a direction that is unwanted because we are putting out negative energy into our day?
Now, when something bad happens, of course we aren’t always going to react with a positive mindset but I think that sometimes we stay with these negative emotions for too long. Is it possible that many times we get upset over something that really doesn’t need to cause us distress? For example, say you’re in a bad mood because you spilled your coffee in the morning. Ok, you had to take an extra 5 minutes to clean it and you lost your morning coffee but is that worth putting negative energy into your entire day?
It’s so easy for us to fall into the “victim” mindset. By this I mean when we say phrases like, “Of course this happened to me, bad stuff always happens to me.” When we think like this, this often keeps us in the same loop of feeling like bad things are always happening. If we an instead think, “ok, something not ideal just happened, but you know what, life isn’t perfect. And just because I had a bad day today, doesn’t mean I can’t have a good day tomorrow.”
Our mindset also effects how we feel physically. When we are in a crappy mindset we are more likely to feel tired and we may even experience physical symptoms. Sort of how our stress can cause our muscles to get tight etc.
When you live in an overall positive mindset, you put out positive energy in the world, and positive things come back to you. So, how can you change your mind to think more positively?
5 ways to change your mindset:
1. Believe that you can!
Thinking that you can’t change your mindset is a limiting belief. Like I said, I experienced this limiting belief myself for many years and I let my mind control me. When I changed my perspective to truly believe that I have the power over my mind, things in my life started to improve drastically.
This doesn’t happen overnight. For many of us the belief that we have no control over our mind is hardwired into our brains. It takes a conscious effort to change this belief but with practice it is possible.
2. Practice mindfulness.
Mindfulness means you are living in the present moment and are aware of the senses that accompany the present.
This type of practice helps you start to break the habit of living in the past and future.
For example, say you are walking your dog and normally on your walk you are constantly thinking about what you have to do for the rest of the day or what happened yesterday.
Instead, try to bring your awareness to what your senses are experiencing in the world around you. Notice how the breeze feels on your face, notice the sounds of birds, notice maybe the scent of spring in the air, notice how cute your dog looks while walking 😃 (the last one might me my favorite).
Your brain can’t focus on many things at once, so when you really bring your attention to your senses you will have to start being in the present moment and not in the future and past.
3. Surround yourself with people who uplift and inspire you.
I know this can be difficult for some people to do in their life, but try your best.
If you feel like the people you need to be around are constantly negative, counteract this by doing something uplifting such as listening to an inspiring podcast.
4. Find some time in your day that's just for you.
You need to make time for yourself for your overall wellbeing. This can be working out, reading a book, or sitting outside with your morning coffee. Whatever it is, take at least 5 minutes to yourself each day (obviously the more time you can take for yourself the better).
5. Start to tap into your spiritual side.
This has helped me tremendously. Spiritual doesn’t mean religious so you can find what resonates with you. For me, meditation helps me to feel spiritually connected.
If you’re not ready to get super spiritual there are some ways you can do this that may be less intimidating. You can go out and connect with nature and really appreciate all that nature offers us. You can also do something that helps and uplifts others such as volunteering somewhere.
There are many more ways you can work on changing your mindset but I wanted to give you guys at least a few ideas to help you get started.
If you commit yourself to put in the work to change your mindset, it really is possible and the outcomes will be amazing.
