5 Mindsets That'll Change Your Life
One way we can strive to have a healthy mental state is through the mindsets that we have. Here are 5 mindsets that’ll change your life.
There have been a few mindsets that I've adopted over the years that have really changed my life. And by changed I mean improved my life by making me stronger, more confident, more resilient, and even less stressed.
Mindsets are firmly held attitudes that we have and they, along with our minds in general, play a huge role in our wellbeing. The way we think about ourselves and the world around us can either lift us up, bring us down, or keep us stagnant. Having healthy mindsets is a cornerstone to a happy life in my opinion and these 5 mindsets will definitely change (and improve) your life for the better.
1. Everything always works out in the end
It's really easy to get caught up in our troubles, feel stuck in crappy situations, or that things will be impossible to figure out or overcome. But I like keep in mind that things always work out in the end. No matter how difficult or trying something is, stuff just always works out one way or another. Things will either work out perfectly fine, or perhaps not quite the way we hoped it would, but in the end that's okay too. The best part about being human is that we have this incredible ability to adapt. Resilience, my friends.
But also because my second mindset is...
2. Negative Experiences are Lessons in Disguise
We've all been there where we've dwelled on the negative stuff that's happened to us. But to me, these are some of the best things that can happen to us. Sounds counterintuitive, I know, but when we make mistakes or go through negative experiences, we have an incredible opportunity to:
Learn about ourselves
Know what to do or avoid next time
Understand our limits
Grow stronger and more resilient
Relate to others
Don't be afraid of making mistakes. We have an opportunity to turn them into something awesome for us because there's so much to learn to from discomfort.
3. Open Mindedness
There have been a few things in my life where I've been narrow-minded, holding one to only one kind of belief, thinking that I'm right about x, y, or z, or that the world works only this way. But as I've gotten older, I've learned that life is just not that simple.
Sure, there are some things we can know definitively, but not everything. I've really discovered the importance of being open to different perspectives, and quite frankly, just being open to change. Change within myself and the world around me.
Open mindedness to me also means letting go of being bias and having a willingness to learn and accept new or different information than what we're used to. And if we choose not to accept that information for our own well-rounded conclusion, then at least we were open to it.
4. Make It Happen
We can sometimes get stuck with an attitude of 'waiting' for things to 'happen' to us. Waiting for more friends, waiting for a better relationship, waiting to eat healthier, waiting for inspiration to strike us, waiting to start that business, waiting to have that conversation with someone. But waiting around for things gets us nowhere.
I've learned that you have to take responsibility for where you're at, recognize where you want to be, and make it happen. I'm not saying this is always easy. In fact, most of the time, this requires a ton of work and mental effort. But it's the only way to move forward in life.
Phone your friend, plan that date night, buy those groceries, send that important email. Take action. We have the power to make the choices every single day to get to where we want to be.
5. You're Stronger Than You Think
Our minds are powerful and can make us think we’re weak when we’re not, or incapable when we are in fact capable.
I wanna share a quick story with you. I climbed a mountain this past summer in Scotland and for most of the way up my mind kept telling me to stop and to turn back and that my legs hurt and I can't do this and I'm not strong enough and it's uncomfortable and everything else under the sun.
But you know what happened? I pushed through those thoughts and even though I was tired and my legs hurt and I was hot (like, really hot), I made it to the top.
I made it to the top.
We often think we won't be able to make it through a difficulties, but guess what? We absolutely can and do because we're so much stronger than our mind sometimes tells us. Even more, tough experiences are what make us stronger.
You have to face your fears or explore discomfort to rise above in order to grow stronger. Staying in a comfort zone may feel safe and comfy, but it can actually make things harder for us in the long run. We have to be willing to grow, and the more we do things that seem hard, the better we get and the more confident we become.
How to Adopt Healthy Mindsets
It's one thing to know about some wonderful mindsets, but what about actually implementing them? Remember that improving our state of mind is a journey. The same journey as working out your muscles at a gym, improving your health through nutrition, or improving skills at a hobby or sport.
It takes time, conscious effort, and a whole lot of self-compassion.
One of the best places to begin adopting healthy mindsets is to replace negative thoughts with opposite positive statements. Catch yourself in a negative thought spiral and stop the thoughts in their tracks. Remember that you have control over the thoughts you think, and it's pretty cool that we can literally change their course. Try it right now!
Repeat this statement to yourself, even if it feels silly or weird:
I am in charge of how I feel. Right now, I choose to feel happy about my life, grateful for what I have, and excited about what's coming in the future. I create my life.
If it helps, keep a journal of how you're feeling and check in with yourself regularly. What are you focusing on the most? What small action steps can you take each day to get closer to a goal you have?
What's 1 mindset that's changed your life? Leave a comment below. Let's create a list of positive affirmations together in the comment section :)