The Mind Is A Wonderful Thing
The Mind Is A Wonderful Thing
Develop a Growth Mindset and Change Your View of The World: Soulful Sunday #4
The all-powerful Mind - a complex system of neural networks that control your thoughts, your heart rate, and your breath. When you think of the Mind, most people think of one’s brain and its complexity.
Indeed the brain is the control center of one’s life. It’s the basis for how you learn, grow, and change. It’s also where your Mindset is controlled.
Mindset forms the basis of what you think and believe. It’s your attitude or your perspective on life.
As a result, Mindset affects every part of your life.
Why is Mindset so important?
Stanford researcher and professor Carol Dweck, Ph.D., and her colleagues showed that everyone has a mindset, a core belief about how they learn (Dweck, 2006). Dweck coined the terms growth mindset and fixed Mindset and discussed the importance of Mindset.
-Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child development, 78(1), 246-263.
In her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Dweck discussed the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset.
People with a growth mindset believe they can change over time. They believe intelligence is changeable and increases with hard work. When people with a growth mindset experience challenges, they are more open to reflecting, learning, and growing from the challenge.
Failure is less threatening for someone with a growth mindset. They look at their mistakes as an opportunity to learn, taking feedback as part of the lesson.
On the other hand, people with a fixed mindset believe you can learn things, but you can’t change your basic level of intelligence. They believe their qualities are essentially unchangeable or “fixed.” As a result, they may be less open to mistakes because setbacks are seen as inherent and an indication of future success.
There is considerable research on Mindset and its importance in one’s life.
-Stanford Report “Your powerful, changeable mindset”
Mindsets matter because they shape the way we view the world.
Your Mindset can either constrict or expand the way you engage in life.
Mindset grows with experiences. Whether positive or negative, our Mind forms a filter that limits what our Mind absorbs from subsequent situations. If you view a challenging experience as an opportunity to grow and learn, your next experience is more apt to follow that path.
By embracing a growth mindset, you can see potential in every situation.
Don’t underestimate the power of Mindset.
This became an important reminder for me during the past two weeks.
Even though I write about living mindfully, staying present, and the importance of Mindset, I still need to practice what I preach, especially when a challenge arises.
Recently I’ve had a health setback that brought my plans to a halt and my Mind to a place I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to think about the symptoms I was experiencing and what they meant. I also didn’t want to cancel the many commitments I had.
I didn’t have time to be sick.
That was my Mindset on Day 1.
On Day 2, I started to think about rescheduling appointments. A dense fog had rolled into my consciousness, like a summer night after a passing storm. The kind that prevents you from seeing past your headlights on a dark night.
Brain Fog - think of it as a chalkboard filled with math equations you can’t solve, a book filled with words you can’t understand, and the inability to remember what you just did a few moments before.
Day 3: Time for a heart-to-heart talk with myself. It went something like this.
“I can do this. This isn’t foreign territory. I’ve dealt with worse many times before. I got this. I’ll rest for the day and get back on track tomorrow.”
Today is Day 14. The first time I’ve been able to sit at my computer and put words together that resembles a coherent sentence.
Between Day 3 and today, I focused on a growth mindset.
I focused on the present moment. I asked myself what I was to learn about this setback.
I was frustrated at times, for sure. But I didn’t stay in that place of frustration because I knew it didn’t serve me well.
Instead, I leaned into the fact that I’ve been working too much. I accepted that I’ve neglected myself and not given myself a chance to recoup when needed. I felt the early signs of something being amiss, but I ignored them. I thought I could push through.
I couldn’t. During the last two weeks, I had to cancel many appointments and ask for help when needed. I rested as much as possible and started thinking about what I had to change and how I would overcome this setback.
Had I not developed a growth mindset, I would have struggled more than I did.
I don’t have all the answers. I still live with a chronic illness that affects me in more ways than I like, but I view each challenge as an opportunity to learn and grow because I have developed a growth mindset.
I hope you’ll embrace one as well.
Master Your Monday
Mindset is everything. Learn to embrace a growth Mindset.
A Vision For You
With every challenge, you learn lessons that make you strong.
I added this to my Vision Board this past week.
As always, thank you for reading Soulful Sunday and supporting The Power of Change. If you found this post helpful, please share it with a friend and leave me a comment.
Mindfully,
Tracy
another great piece, Thank you