Changing your mindset to head in a more positive direction

Have you ever dreamt of more? More friends, more money, more freedom, more love, more faith, more drive...and the list goes on. But once those thoughts arise, are you quickly snapped back to ‘reality’ and think, “those things won’t happen to me!”

Truth is - If you think it won’t, it won’t; but if you think it can, it is at least possible.

See our minds are like sponges and they can absorb tremendous amounts of positive thoughts that can skyrocket us in making our dreams our realities or it could be the most detrimental aspect of one’s entire life and hold us back forever. 

Let’s go back to when we were five years old and full of life, being ourselves ws easy. We explored everything in sight, with not a care in the world, fearless, easy and happy. Our ‘inner child’ still lives within us. However, as time goes on, we are taught not to do certain things. Maybe you’ve heard these before: “don’t touch that”, “be careful you’ll hurt yourself”, “no that’s not right,” etcetera. It’s most common these statements would have been said by our parents, caregivers, teachers or family members and they meant no harm in saying them. They actually wanted to protect us. However, it unfortunately planted seeds within our own subconscious to second guess ourselves, to hold back, to overthink what is possible and to find what could go wrong rather than what could go right.

Take the boiled frog syndrome as an example, it is a metaphor of placing a frog inside a pot of water that is slowly heated, The frog will not notice the difference in temperature until it is boiling to death It is an example against becoming complacent (Ramli and Faridah, 2010) in life

This is a very similar analogy of what us humans do to ourselves by limiting our own thinking. We tend to get so comfortable with our surroundings that to ever ‘jump’ out of them, would be so much work and effort that we tend to not bother even trying at all.

Maybe Claire's story will resonate with you. She was 34 years old and the only one out of her friends not married and to make matters worse, not even in a relationship. She felt disheartened, unloved and that her time was nearly up. Luckily, she had an epiphany one day and thought well I have been stressing over what I don’t have, I am missing out on all the things I do have. She then began to feel instantly feeling grateful for the loving friendships she does have, for the free time she gets to enjoy on her own or with friends. Her time is her time and the fact she gets to control how she spends it is a luxury. See how that simple switch of mindset from expectations to easy appreciation completely changed the frequency Claire was putting out to the universe? This positive switch is how Claire begun enjoying life again. If you would like to know more about being grateful and changing your mindset to one that embraces the positive with ease, please keep reading and click the link at the bottom of this blog.

Now of course, if you’re willing to ‘jump’ out it most certainly can be done but it’s going to require continuous effort and endurance. But gosh, is it worth it!

Before beginning, please note, this is not us blaming others but rather thanking them for doing the best they knew how to at that particular point of time and now for us to take responsibility in becoming who we truly want to be.

See, our thoughts lead to our feelings, which create our beliefs that lead to our actions, which determine our results - our life. Therefore, if we are not happy with our life, then we need to change the root of the problem, our way of thinking.

Yes, it is true that our way of thinking — these ‘thoughts’ that aren't helpful — are learned from other people as we grow up, ususally our carers. But this can be changed.

If we are not happy with something in our lives, we need to change it — life is too short not to engage the solutions available to us, and make sure we live our lives to the full.

We have the power to believe whichever we choose to believe but it all starts with awareness and the desire to make a change.

So how do we change our mindset you ask?

In five easy steps!

First, you must decide you want to change and be willing to seek out a solution. Changes do not happen if we don’t acknowledge there is something we are unhappy with.

To be clear, this isn’t an opportunity to be down on yourself. It’s actually the complete opposite. Celebrate that you are brave enough to even want to change.  Celebrate you are being courageous enough to step into the arena of your life, engage the solutions, and begin creating the real life your five-year-old self always dreamed of.

Secondly, a decision is great, but without awareness of exactly what is causing those results, then changes will never occur. Therefore, become the best investigator of yourself you can be. Begin listening to the words you say out loud and think in your head. Tune in to your mindset.

Ask yourself these questions:

How do I respond when people say certain things?

How do I react when things don’t go a certain way?

What are the most common five emotions I feel regularly?

Write them down. It’s imperative to begin writing a journal of all these thought patterns and beliefs you’re not overly fond of on paper because it’s getting these thoughts out of you that will help you jumpstart your new mindset. Join our changing your mindset masterclass now.

Thirdly, get clear on what you actually want your new mindset to be. Many people focus their attention on what they don’t want, but sadly, what they don’t want is all they will get. Simple fact: what you focus on expands. Therefore, get clear on exactly what you want your new mindset to be.

When we begin asking ourselves powerful questions, we begin getting powerful answers. 

Fourthly, craft your environment to be ultra-supportive. Get your creative juices going and begin decorating the main areas of your life with your positive new mindset. Every problem has its solution! Stick post it notes with positive new mantras everywhere, like your bathroom mirror, office space, on your computer, on your steering wheel, etc. Some people call these affirmations, declarations or incantations – they are simply new thoughts that you’re wanting to engrain into your subconscious.

Remember by dimming your light it makes the whole world darker which makes it harder for the rest of us to find each other. By changing your mindset, you can metaphorically light yourself up and your people will find you, we promise. 

Last but not least, be patient with yourself. It took years to get your subconscious the way it is, it will take some time to change it, and at times it wont feel easy. However, it can be done as long as you are committed to yourself, are persistent, focused and kind to yourself along the way.

It is like the universal law of cause and effect – nothing happens by chance or outside the universal laws. Every action (including each thought) has a reaction or consequence – we reap what we sow.

So sow healthy, supportive and vibrant thoughts and your life will truly be enriched with all of the greatness and abundance life has to offer.

References

Ramli and Faridah, (2010), The Boiling Frog Syndrome: A Radiologists Perspective.  Biomed Imaging Interv J. 2010 Oct-Dec; 6(4): e36. Published online 2010 Oct 1. doi: 10.2349/biij.6.4.e36.

Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3097807

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Photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash