Tag Archives: growth mindset

22

Growth Mindset Sees the World

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As I have written several times, developing a growth mindset in life seems desirable. Simply because whatever you want to achieve or add to life is there for the taking once you set your mind. You have to be willing to work for it and build improvement.  More than just the accomplishment results, it leads to an enjoyment of life that you can experience doing even the simplest of tasks.

The fixed mindset sees a world of the can or can’t but no development and doesn’t dare to place itself on the line of looking “foolish.”  Rather than accepting that life is a learning process full of different things, like a school that never has graduation.  Just when you think you have it figured out, the curriculum changes.  Creating a growth mindset allows that change and gives you the tools to enjoy the experience.

Learning Is Power

People who go into something they have never done and feel foolish for making mistakes operate from a fixed mindset.  If you develop a growth mindset, you will never feel stupid when learning something new. You will jump into the process with both feet and see what you can do with this new knowledge. It isn’t just the learning. And it’s the process of learning that is fun and exciting and allows you to move your mind, body, and spirit into new experiences.

Learning as an opportunity for growth rather than the answers on some tests will become an enjoyable experience that you seek. Some with a fixed mindset see their learning experience ending when they are done with organized school. That is usually in the early ’20s. Those who stop learning at that point are in for a harsh awakening later in life.  Learning is a lifelong process, providing pose in living and givegivesle an opportunity for continual adventure and growth. It keeps things interesting and makes this ride an enjoyable experience.

The Disease of Perfection

Perfection is a word that many people think of, which destroys people’s enjoyment in almost any experience.  People create an unrealistic expectation of perfection about their jobs, families, or life experience, and they will miss out on the joy life has for them.  It is not the finished products in life that provide joy; it is the steps along the way.  Find joy in these moments, and perfection doesn’t matter.  What is perfection but worrying about how something looks to someone else?  We are never what other people think of us.  We are a collection of our experiences, and ignoring these real things for an idea that never exists seems to be the definition of insanity.

Vince Lombardi, the legendary football coach, once said, “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”  I think that is true, but the goal should always be excellence in attitude, behavior, and how we treat others. On the way to greatness is the chase, which you need to learn to enjoy. It is always there in the small moments of life, which are never perfect but have kindness, joy, empathy, romance, adventure, strength, and any other positive you can imagine.  Avoid the disease of perfection, which will take away the enjoyment of your life and replace it with disappointment.  Disappointed is a hard way to live your life.

See Setbacks as What They Are

Many people see a setback in their life and feel it is a personal judgment against them. They find it difficult to move past hard things. You lose a job or a relationship, and things don’t work out as you hoped. All of this can put you in a negative mindset. But the growth mindset knows that the current score is not the final score, and there is a lot more game left to go.  Bad things hurt, and nobody wants to suffer, but suffering has a place in life. It provides motivation.  Look at your situation as a step in the journey, not the destination.

You can never say what the result of any circumstance will be in the long term. Too often, our shortsighted fears stop us from accepting a painful thing as needed to reach a new height. Some people spend so much time focused on the moment’s pain and the fear of what might come next that they never recover to live their life.  Setbacks are as helpful as successes, and sometimes more, and they show where our weaknesses lie and teach us valuable information. The growth mindset knows that a failure today can be a final success in the future because the lessons learned and the knowledge gained is just what you need to improve and experience success.

Look at your thoughts and your reaction to things today and decide if you are operating from a growth mindset or not. Don’t let setbacks throw you, don’t fall into the trap of perfection, and learning is a great experience, always!!

“Every success story is a tale of constant adaptation, revision, and change.” —Richard Branson

“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.” —Abraham Maslow

“The great solution to all human problems is individual inner transformation.” —Vernon Howard

“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t living.” —Gail Sheehy  

“The way must be in you; the destination also must be in you and not somewhere else in space or time. If that kind of self-transformation is being realized in you, you will arrive.” —Nhat Hanh

22

Why Build a Growth Mindset?

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Do you have a philosophy of growth in your life? Or do you feel that you have the intelligence, skill, and talent that you were born with, and that is it? Answering these questions honestly can help you find the path to a more enjoyable and fulfilling life or a life of lack, worry, fear, and never measuring up. Life is either an exciting learning experience where you embrace challenges and learning or a fixed experience where you feel there is nothing else to learn and no growth you can achieve. Or perhaps you have a combination of both in your makeup. There are many benefits to developing a growth mindset when you approach your life. I wanted to share 15 positive things about developing a growth mindset.

A brief explanation: Fixed mindset believes talent is everything, and they are doomed to failure if they are not blessed with the talent to do something. The growth mindset believes whatever someone wants to achieve is there to take as long as you are willing to dedicate to the goal and continue to improve toward meeting the challenges and overcoming failure.

Benefits of an attitude of growth.

  1. Life is an adventure to be enjoyed. Even when you need to do something better, there is an understanding that it can be better, more fun, and learn it. Where you start isn’t where you are going to end up. Enjoy the ride to accomplishment.
  2. Higher Self Esteem is a result of the growth mindset. When you feel that you can learn and grow into a situation, it will also improve your insight because you will not look at things as they are but as they might be when you are done.
  3. Your relationships will be better because they are not what they are but continually growing and becoming better. When two people decide to pursue something, it is better to achieve and has more power than one person by themselves.
  4. Our society often makes people feel less intelligent if they do not know something. In the growth mindset, you never feel stupid for not knowing. Asking, learning, growing, and mastering are all part of the process. Nobody knows everything, and to pretend you do is delusional.
  5. Perfection is a staple of the fixed mindset. A growth mindset doesn’t need to be perfect because perfection is impossible. We can always strive to become great at what we want to do. In trying, our talent develops, and we build mastery of things. Perfection is a silly thing to hold onto because it is an illusion. Better to be excited to learn about doing things better, growing as a person, and achieving things you set your mind to. 
  6. Confidence is one of the assets we all need to thrive in life—the higher your level of faith, the higher your achievement is open to you. As you develop a growth mindset, you will know that no matter where you are right now, accomplishing your goals is something you can do if it is physically possible. Confidence in your ability to learn, adapt, overcome obstacles, and be the best person you can be will also grow to an all-time high. 
  7. When you know that you can accomplish many different things, your attitude becomes more positive because you realize that you are in control of this game in the long run. Your choices are going to lead to your reality. It is much more difficult to experience some forms of depression when you have a purpose and are working toward it. That is the growth mindset. 
  8. It is also a skill to take responsibility for everything in your life. Never looking for someone or something to blame for where you are is a skill that will allow you to develop a strong mentality. Excuses and blame establish the victim’s psyche and take away all of your power. Taking responsibility gives you all the power.
  9. The growth mentality allows you to see single events as just that. A single event that you have the power to deal with and overcome any obstacle that it plants in your way. Each day is new and brings a unique experience to all of us. Yesterday was an event; only fear and a fixed mindset make it more than that. 
  10. A growth mindset will allow you to become more resilient when things go wrong because you will have confidence in your ability to create a positive outcome even if one, two, or three setbacks are experienced. It isn’t the show’s end; it is only the beginning and a chance to grow. 
  11. All setbacks will be helpful with the growth mindset because you will have a chance to improve old skills or develop new ones to get past the current challenge. All challenges are viewed as positive because it allows you to become better. 
  12. The Growth mindset allows you to let go of any stress you may have when proving yourself because you don’t have to. You will develop an attitude that you will be your best every day. It may mean a different thing depending on the day, but proving yourself is unnecessary.  
  13. Putting time and effort into a project, you are committed to being a good thing, not something to be feared. Many fixed mindset people have difficulty doing anything that doesn’t come easily to them. In a growth mindset, people know that improvement is the cost of practicing and working at something. 
  14. You make a better company for others when you have a growth mindset. Wouldn’t you spend time with someone optimistic, understanding, and always learning about new things, who has confidence and isn’t destroyed by each little setback they come across? That makes you a much better company for others. 
  15. Finally, the growth mindset allows you to see all of us as equal in our journey. Some are further along and using all of their growth gifts, and others are stuck in a fixed mindset, but that doesn’t make anyone any better than anyone else. We are all equal and can master new things and grow.

So, developing a growth mentality is essential to becoming the best you can be. To become more confident and make your dreams come true by knowing you can make a plan, and through a commitment to them, you can achieve almost anything.

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who had kept on trying when there seemed no hope at all.”- Dale Carnegie

“Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.”- Samuel Johnson

“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”- Margaret Thatcher

“Dreams don’t work unless you do.”- John C. Maxwell

“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure.”- Thomas Watson

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”- Theodore Roosevelt

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”- Albert Einstein

“Challenges are what make life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. “- Joshua J. Marine

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”- George Bernard Shaw

 

22

Keep On Trying

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Don’t Give Up. YOU Are Almost There.

Keep going, you never know how close you are to success!!
Keep going. You never know how close you are to success!!

All people have moments when they have to question themselves. Things in life won’t always go your way, and there will be a lot of times when it may seem hopeless. Everything you encounter seems to be against you, and it can become an unbearable weight, and in that moment of darkness and frustration, you may feel like giving up. Those are the moments it is vital you find the strength and inspiration to hang on because there is always a pendulum of change coming your way. Darkness serves a purpose just as light does. Good things will come into your life if you can maintain hope and heart long enough.  Change is constant and inevitable and will allow for tough times to end and prosperity to enter your life.

Down Times Necessary

In all things in life, contrast exists to provide meaning to each experience. There needs to be an opposite experience for every positive emotion and experience to give different and lend sense to the value of what you are experiencing.

There is no appreciating a warm summer day if you haven’t experienced the bitter cold of winter. Joy gets its value from the comparison of desperation. Happy and sad, loneliness and a relationship, each enjoyable experience needs to have a polar opposite. That needs to be experienced to understand what the great things in life mean and the value they give you.  If you give up when sharing the despair of difficult times, you will never know the joy of redemption or the satisfaction coming back will provide you.

Contrast Provides Meaning

All people go through times of sorrow in life. The difference is that some people let those times define in front 3them, and others move past them into a more profound understanding that often, low moments of sorrow provide a springboard for a deeper understanding or a more decisive action that brings you closer to your ultimate happiness and understanding of life.  The downtimes will get you ready for the happy times to come and for you to appreciate them.

Look at the BIG Picture

Even though we don’t look for situations that make us feel broken, they are sometimes needed to grow into better people.  Life is a long game that needs to be viewed from looking down at the whole thing. Like a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, your transformation is possible.

You may be struggling now, but if you look ahead and see the best possible results, it will make you more successful. That is what is waiting, nobody in the world was born to be sad all the time, and there will be great moments ahead of you regardless of what your life is giving you right now.

Put your head down and keep moving forward because today’s clouds will eventually give way to the bright skies of tomorrow. All you have to do is stay in the game long enough to experience it.  Moving ahead is the only place where you will find your dreams. Everything you want is in front of you, and you must move ahead to greet it.

Failure is Not Fatal

In school, we are taught that failure is a fatal mistake; it is the thing we must avoid at all costs.  Better to play it safe than to take a chance at something we might fail at.  Learning is about setting a task, making a plan, trying it out, and evaluating what happens. If it doesn’t work, that isn’t a failure. It is learning.  Take that lesson and try again, and soon you will be experiencing nothing but success.

People often face life with a fixed mindset, avoiding even the idea that they don’t know something and pretending to know when a simple question would have ended all doubt.  Be a growth mindset person.  Accept challenges, be willing to learn, and ask questions, and soon you will see the opportunity that “so-called” failure provides. Failure is not fatal, and it is necessary to become all that you can be and gain value in life lessons.

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” ―Nelson Mandela

“How long should you try? Until.” ―Jim Rohn

“There is no failure except in no longer trying.” ―Elbert Hubbard

“Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” ―Harriet Beecher Stowe

 

22

Developing A Growth Mindset at Any Age

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Develop a Mindset of Growth

The mind continually provides us with thoughts, and without conscious input, the ideas we create will be based on the past and the history of our experience. Our thoughts, emotions, words, and actions come from two essential mindsets: a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.  Each is present in most people. In some areas, we are fixed in our thoughts, and in others, we are more than willing to believe we can grow.  The challenge is to look at life and your attitude towards it and recognize what type of mindset you are using.  You may be OK with your thought process either way, but being conscious of your thoughts and the mindset they lead can help you reach your goals, develop your dreams, and enjoy life more. But that is a choice.

Fixed Mindset

In my life, I know I have spent plenty of time with a fixed mindset. It stemmed from never wanting to make mistakes and be seen as weak or less than perfect. Here are a few aspects of the fixed mindset:  1. Avoid challenges- because they prove we don’t know it all already.  2. We Hate change because we have to readjust and grow.  We would instead, the world think we knew it all and were perfect.  3. Focus on limitations, not enough, money, time, love, freedom, opportunity, or whatever else is seen as a limiting factor. 4. Criticism is seen as a personal insult rather than a chance to grow. I would rather hear insincere praise than mindful construction. 5. Believes either you have the talent to do something or don’t, no chance to develop the skill. 6. This leads to a lack of confidence in learning something new and developing a goal or a dream. You are stuck with what you have at the beginning.  See learning as something you do as a young person, not a lifelong process.

When you look at your mindset, there will be some of these characteristics. We are multifaceted and complicated beings with many layers. The trick is to look at yourself and what you think and ask if those thoughts are taking you where you would like to be? Are they making you your best? Or are they limiting you in some way? Only you can answer those questions.  I encourage you and myself not to limit ourselves and develop until this journey’s end.

Growth Mindset

A growth mindset is one of the possibilities and development in your life.  I try to develop this in all areas of my life. It is not a finished product but one that is continually growing and learning throughout the process.  And to be OK with not knowing something and becoming better at it.  To welcome new experiences and see what they feel like.  Some aspects of the growth mindset are 1. You welcome challenges. A challenge will provide new experiences and becoming a more well-rounded person.  2. Change is embraced, a natural part of life, and all things continually and inevitably change. Embracing change is embracing life. 3. Look for opportunities to grow and have new experiences.  4. Think anything is possible; with the right amount of preparation and effort, you can set, learn about, and accomplish anything you dream about.  5. Love learning and exploring new things. See feedback as a helpful guide, not a personal condemnation. See it as a lifetime process.   6. See the lessons in every failure, and don’t let it deter effort in future opportunities.

Developing a growth mindset is more complicated than it seems. We are programmed to be perfect from the time we are children. It is all the beginnings of it: stand in line, sit up straight, follow the rules, and do what you are told. When you are told what is good and evil, if you have any thought out of that narrow scope, you are labeled evil.  The growth mindset allows you to understand that nobody is perfect, and you can continually develop throughout your life. The only limits you have are the ones you don’t dare to move beyond.  There is the opportunity to keep growing and changing throughout life.

The Choice

You have to make today and all days hereafter to decide what mindset will be dominant in your experience.  Do you believe that what you know is what you know, and what you are now, you will always be?  Or do you see the endless landscape of possibility that exists if you dare to take steps to travel into it?  There will be a failure on the way, which is not a personal condemnation of you. It is a learning experience where valuable information about future movements will be determined. You alone can decide to have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.  The color and direction of your life will be determined by this choice you must make continually.

 “It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” -said Albert Einstein.

“When you take risks, you learn that there will be times when you succeed, and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important.” – Ellen DeGeneres.

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison.

“Failure is an important part of your growth and developing resilience. Don’t be afraid to fail.” -Michelle Obama

 

22

Hear Your Fear

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Fear– an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

It is often believed that hate is the opposite of love, but that isn’t true. Fear is the opposite of love. Fear is an emotion that stems from beliefs that a situation will cause pain. All things are a choice between love and Fear. To try something you have a passion for, or not give it a go because you are afraid of failure or looking silly or not perfect. The most significant blocks to achievement are the thoughts of Fear, and the purpose of this post is to raise your consciousness about your fears and what they are stopping you from enjoying, accomplishing, or believing.

It all begins by being aware of your thoughts of Fear. They stem from beliefs you have accepted in your mind as undeniably true. They lead to emotions of Fear, words of Fear, and actions based on Fear. You can turn all of it around because Fear is just a thought that you can disregard as quickly as it can be accepted. That is our challenge today. Please find what you are afraid of and then learn how to overcome it. Simple task, right? Afraid not!!

Kinder Self-Talk is the First Step

There is a voice in our minds that talks to us continually. It suggests judges, states, encourages, or discourages us in all situations we face in life. The tenor of that voice has a lot to do with the level of self-esteem we enjoy. If that voice is kind, encouraging, and supportive, then your confidence will be higher, and Fear will be less of a problem. If that voice is negative, discouraging, worried, or judgmental, Fear will have an easy time controlling you. But it can all change.

Our ways don’t exist in stone. Changing the tone of our inner dialogue can happen just by becoming aware of the sound and choosing to change it. Notice how you speak to yourself when you see yourself in a mirror, when you face a challenge or when you think of those you care about. If that voice is negative, recognize it, and refuse to accept it. If you don’t expect yourself to be kind to yourself, it isn’t easy to assume that treatment from others. You are a unique human being with a wellspring of potential to do all sorts of things. See it, make a choice, and pursue it. The self-esteem you accept from yourself will determine your success more often than not. Don’t fear yourself.

Face Your Fear

As children, many are afraid of darkness at night. It is a thought of what might be hiding in the dark that scared us. Once we turned on the light, those fears were eventually let go. There was no monster under the bed, but there is always one in your head. That monster is Fear. That monster is there to tell you: “You can’t do that!” “You will look stupid!” “You have no talent in that area.”, “You will fail!” or any other negative comment you can think of. This hurdle is the monster of Fear in your head, and it is all just a thought.

The cure for Fear is to turn the light of experience on it. Once you shine a light on that Fear, it will lose its power, and you can move past it. So facing Fear is decisive for your confidence and self-esteem. Understanding the difference between danger and anxiety is essential. Danger can hurt you, and it is natural, tangible, and needs to be taken with precaution. Fear is the thought of things that might or might not happen ever. Shine a light on your Fear by facing them. Understanding that this can be very difficult to do, confidence rises inside that will help you meet and overcome more significant fears once it is done. Once the mindset is created that Fear is just a thought, and you can overcome it, what can stop you from doing anything?

Never Fear Mistakes

I have learned in life that people will make choices that lead to pain and suffering of one sort or another. These are viewed as mistakes in hindsight. But are they? All options cause actions, and these actions lead to results. How you weigh them is a point of view. Good, bad, tremendous, or horrible. It is the value you assign to the experience that gives it its value. As a society, we have been conditioned to fear making a mistake.

In school, we were graced by the number of mistakes we made and labeled by our school because of them. If a person never tried anything new and only stuck to what they mastered, they would never make mistakes, and they would never evolve or grow either. To truly learn, a person has to throw their whole self into the process. Create a theory, try it out, evaluate your results, adjust your opinion until you find success. Mistakes are a part of learning, and to fear them is unnatural. The more you shine a light on errors, the more you will see them for what they are, opportunities.

Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself

One of the most powerful, simple, and actual lines Franklin Roosevelt ever spoke. Fear is the only thing we have to fear in life. It was expressed at the time of the great depression when people were panicking in Fear that the country would collapse. It wasn’t what was happening that scared everybody, and it was the thought about what might happen that hurt them.

This practice is the way it is in life. If you are in a situation, you deal with it. You handle it. It may not be pleasant, but you will live. Then the thought about that thing happening again is the thing that haunts you. Your imagination is excellent at making up dark fantasies about bad things happening. The idea is these are not real, and the Fear of them is being afraid of a thought. It is fearful of Fear itself. Don’t let the fear of what might happen run your life and make decisions for you.

Fear Factor

Take a moment today, look at what scares you, and ask yourself why? Is it the danger of the situation, or are you letting an irrational thought get the best of you? Evaluate all of your dreams on their fear factor. Is there a real danger here, or is it a fear of what might happen? Look at your physical reaction to this emotionally. Look at the things that you want to say because of it. Observe how your actions are affected by it. This is becoming conscious of how Fear affects you and is, in effect, shining your light on the monsters under your bed. Taking action is always the cure for Fear.

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”- Marcus Aurelius

“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To Conquer Fear is the beginning of wisdom.”-Bertrand Russell

“Fears are educated into us, and can if we wish, be educated out.”-Karl Augustus Menninger

 

22

Finding Joy In Life

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Even when you try to be positive in life, it takes an effort to consistently keep the positivity moving forward in life. When you let your thoughts run wild on their own, you are at the mercy of that stampede of random things.

Someone says or does something annoying but straightforward, and it alters your mood toward the negative. Your schedule is interrupted, and you have to adjust. These simple things can throw you out of your mood and make your attitude less than stellar. It happens when something makes you look at the world selfishly. What does this mean to me? Rather than what you can offer the world at this moment. So a change in your attitude can come when you choose to be more giving and less worried about what you get.

Love Is The Answer

To find joy in all of your moments is the secret to real happiness. Approach every experience in your life with love. If you have planned your day one way and it has to change, embrace that change. Choose to experience joy over angst. Let’s face it. Many things happen; we have little to no control over them. All we can control is our reaction to them. When you think about it, to react with joy is just as easy as responding with anger, and it will be a more positive experience. If a conflict with a co-worker or loved one occurs today, embrace it as an excellent opportunity to express your emotions and expand your relationship. It is a chance to communicate openly and honestly about how you feel. I have heard it explained like this. 1st: Joy over Angst and 2nd state, “I feel great about it.” After all, to make this statement, things make the events belong to you.

Look at this day you have. Approach every experience as if you chose it and decide that you will feel great about it. We are conditioned by society to feel wrong about many lessons of life. People can view it as a negative or even debilitating experience when we fail. But really, it is just a learning experience about what didn’t work for some reason. It could be the critical factor that will lead you to ultimate success. It is just as easy to feel right about something as it does to feel poorly about it. Love what is happening in your life and look for its value because it is always there. As long as you are alive, you have a chance to grow and become better at whatever it is you are striving to do. We should try to make the best of things.

Gratitude

Since we can’t choose what always happens to us, we still have a choice about our feelings about these things that happen to us. Try to feel gratitude for all the experiences in your life. Even for the items we don’t want to happen to us. Why should we feel grateful for difficult things? Because often, they are the events that push us forward to being our best selves. Even the most traumatic experiences, once dealt with, can propel us to becoming better people and achieving life goals we never thought we could make.

It is called post-traumatic growth. It occurs when an event rocks your whole world, and it breaks your shell of comfort. It is a forced significant change in a short amount of time. To adjust, we all have different methods. We withdraw, we experience depression, we feel lost and alone. But when you come out on the other side. Your motivation is better, and your goals are more apparent. You know what type of person you want to be and are closer to representing that ideal every day.

Express Your Emotions

So why allow solid emotional responses to dictate your behavior? There is value in expressing your emotions and being true to your feelings, but does experiencing them in the time of action provide you with more work options? An individual can experience sadness but not let it dictate how they behave at the moment. Remaining calm is the key to finding success and guiding yourself out of the darkness of depression or sadness.

Be calm and measure your reactions. See how many options become available to you. To remain calm when the storm rises all around you is a real challenge. Anger can seem like a powerful tool to make sure your fear is known. But it does not help build authentic relationships or live a better, happier life. Better to recognize the thoughts that brought the anger on and deal with those in a healthy manner. You live in control of your emotions and not the other way around.

You Choose

Life is going to give you a series of experiences. It’s up to you to decide how skills will ripple through your life and the lives of those around you. Will it be a gentle wave of calm or a violent tsunami of anger, fear, and frustration? That is the choice you have today and every day. It’s your experience and your choice of how to grow from it.

quotes

“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect Its successful outcome.”-William James

“Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force.”-Tom Blandi

“I am convinced that attitude is the key to success or failure in almost any of life’s endeavors. Your attitude-your perspective, your outlook, how you feel about yourself, how you feel about other people-determines your priorities, your actions, your values. Your attitude determines how you interact with other people and how you interact with yourself.”-Carolyn Warner

 

21

The Mindset

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Mindset      ~ the established set of attitudes held by someone.

mindsetTo fully take advantage of our talents, time, and actions, it is essential to know that our mindset will provide an attitude leading to the results we see in life. Once something is set in your mind, you have no choice but to make that thing happen. Look at your mindset when it comes to finances, relationships, or life in general. This evaluation will reveal why your life is the way it is. The way you think about yourself and your abilities is the most significant boost or barrier to accomplishing anything.  It all begins with a conscious awareness of your thoughts, words, and actions based on your current mindset.  (Video)

Mindset Challenges

In all things, we choose positive or negative, and our mindset is the attitude and default behavior we will fall to naturally in life.  Evaluate which of these characteristics you honestly participate in and how they are a part of your mindset—worrying about the future, putting yourself down, gossiping, holding a grudge, jealousy, lying, feeling sorry for yourself, mindsetgeneral negativity about people, or regrets about the past. These things are mindset anchors to misery, failure, and unhappiness. It will be challenging to achieve success and impossible to enjoy it with this mindset.

The great thing is all of these things provide the opposite action available to you with the simple change of mindset. You can choose to be confident about the future, value yourself, not talk about others when they are not present, forgive, appreciate what you have, be honest, accept responsibility for your place in life, general positivity about people, and get the past.  It is all a matter of mindset.  When you face challenges, remember your mood will determine the outcome for you.  We can’t control many things that happen to us, but we have 100% control over how we deal with them.  Avoid the negative mindset and pursue a positive alternative. This direction makes your success right from the beginning.

Find Mindset People

The people you choose to associate with daily will affect your mindset one way or another. Surround yourself with people who have the mindset you would like to have, and it will be easier to achieve.  If mindsetyour circle is full of people who follow the negative characteristics described earlier, then it is time to change your ring.  It isn’t a condemnation of others but taking responsibility for your own life and the experience you want to have.

Some people embody every characteristic you admire and want more of in your life. Find them, and get them in your circle.  Too often, people settle for less than this because of comfort or fear. You can do this also, but understand the cost is your happiness and ability to achieve your best self. It is hard to fly as high as possible when tied to a massive and negative anchor.  Surround yourself with the people who allow you to operate your most senior and be your best. Let the others go. Building a positive mindset will be much more comfortable, surrounded by people who enjoy life and see the good in you and the things you are doing.

Mindset Today

What is your mindset today? Is it going to be the same old thing? Or are you looking for the opportunity that each day provides?  Every day gives us a new chance to write a chapter in the book of our lives the way we want.  A trip I want to take? A relationship I want to build? Whatever I want to accomplish can start right now today, and it will begin with my mindset. Do I believe that it is possible? Let’s start there.  If you think of a goal and immediately list all of the reasons it can’t happen, you need to change your mindset.

Changing your mindset is a simple process of changing your thoughts to focus and relevance. It isn’t easy to do because we are set in our ways, but anyone can do it.  It starts by looking honestly at your thoughts, words, and actions and seeing where you are, and moving them toward where you want to be in your daily consciousness.

“Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it.” ― Steve Maraboli

“The mind is a powerful thing. It can take you through walls.” ― Denis Avey

 

21

Friendly Imagination

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Imagination- the faculty or action of forming new ideas or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.

The human mind is a powerful tool. It can recall information and perform intricate calculations while still managing to keep a physical body functioning appropriately. A mind can create imaginary situations and scenarios that allow us to create new things and unique events in our lives.

The mind has an imagination that can go to places that have never existed or might only exist in the future.  Unfortunately, this creative imagination can sometimes work against us. Fear creeps into our lives and starts to use our imaginations against us. You are creating worst-case scenarios that raise our anxiety levels about things that never have and probably never will happen. If you are experiencing this misuse of imagination, it is time to control your thoughts and use the power of your vision for you and not against you.  It is all up to the ideas you choose to entertain, the corresponding emotions you will deal with because of your choice—the words you use to describe things. And the actions you take to enhance or diminish the power of your imagination.

What Can Go Right?

Too often, we spend our thoughts worrying about what might go wrong.  This fear is a thing that develops over time. As we experience suffering in life, we try to create a safety zone in our minds where nothing unexpected ever happens. The working theory is that if we can imagine the worst, it won’t take us by surprise, and we can handle it if it happens.  So we weave tales of terror and woe and play out our imaginary reactions to the situations.  Although they are in our minds, the stress they create is felt by us.  It is hard to experience happiness if you only imagine the most painful things your life can bring.

Rather than spend your time worrying about what might go wrong, how about switching your focus to what can go right? One of the more powerful tools of creation we have is our imagination. Used to imagine a successful result, it can move you down the path to creating that very thing in your life. Think of a goal achieved and how that is going to feel for you. Put it aside and start taking action toward making that thing a reality. Your imagination can help keep you motivated and show you how good life can be when your goals come into existence.  Also, there is the added benefit. When your mind is creating positive thoughts, the negative thought train shuts down.  Focus on what can go right rather than what might go wrong.

Overcoming Anxiety

It seems like we feel we have to know all the answers.  Well, nobody has this ability.  Since our youngest days, we have been conditioned to be “smart” and never look “stupid” and always have the answer.  This mindset is a fixed way of thinking where people seem to believe either we have a talent or not.  Some lucky people start to realize that we are not born with all the answers or abilities. Those things are developed through the learning process and become whatever version of ourselves we want.

The larger group would rather pretend to know the answer rather than reveal a lack of knowledge.  The fear that people might find out this “weakness” is one of the causes of anxiety. They fear that they will reveal as less of a person or a person of less value.  It is an illusion of perfection our society demands, but it is just an illusion.

Nobody is perfect, and nobody knows everything.  When we start to look at all situations as opportunities for growth, rather than tests our current knowledge and base our value on it, anxiety will lessen in our lives.  So what if you don’t know everything? That is called learning. Having a growth mindset sets you free to learn, improve, and become your best at whatever you want to excel at in your life.  Your only limits of accomplishment are then the limits of your imagination.  Rather than using your imagination to conjure up how other people see you negatively, use it, creating a real-world, achieving what you want.

Only So Much Room

Finally, remember worry is a misuse of your imagination, and it will only fill your head with fear and anxiety.  These are forces that can destroy your health and make you unhappy.  Thoughts develop in patterns, and if you are in a mode of worry, it is all you can think of, and there isn’t any room in your head for anything else.  It makes sense to take logical steps for your safety and well-being, but to obsess about negative things happening to you and those you love is a negative chute. It is hard to come out of and change direction.  There is only so much room in your head, just like in your house. Why fill it with junk? It costs you the delight of space and positivity.   Look at your thoughts and how they affect your imagination today.  Use your imagination wisely.

“Worry is a misuse of your imagination.”- Dan Zadra

“Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.”- A.S. Roche

“We will weather the weather,

Whatever the weather,

Whether we like it or not.”

 

21

Moving Forward

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Life is a Journey; we choose our direction alone.

Life is a journey from where we are in this moment to where and what we want to be in the future.  Some people listen to the things others tell them in regards to how their lives should look.  What job to have, where to live, how to live, what to like, how to spend your leisure time. The opinions of others will guide all of our activities and thoughts if you let them, like sleepwalking through your life. Then some people start to notice living like this, doing what someone tells you to do. Despite the fact it feels empty and unfulfilling, is no way to live.  It is for these people I am writing this. We are all on a spiritual journey, whether we choose to realize it or not.  The movement of growth in our lives is happening, and We are all moving forward into our development or hiding in the safety of our past.  That is the choice you are making every day.  Here are a few simple thoughts and tools to help you move into a more aware life of your journey.

Develop a mindset of Growth

Since growth involves moving forward, it seems our development mindset will be a vital tool to develop.  Carol Dweck wrote a whole book about it, but to me, merely understanding we can move our lives in any direction we want. The first step is not to let our patterns of thinking stop us. I know many talented and potentially great people stop themselves from success by their fixed mindsets. Look at your thoughts and evaluate where they land. I am not telling you what is good or bad for you. That is a choice we all make for ourselves.  The way forward is growth, and you are the determining factor about what you learn and what you don’t, just as I am the determining factor for me.

Fixed mindsets believe you have the talent to do something, or you don’t. If you can’t do something on the first try, you shouldn’t even try.  A growth mindset sees life as a process. You may not be able to master something in one attempt, but if you keep trying, you will eventually find success. Fixed mindset people are so afraid of being wrong and judged as faulty, they never even try anything new. A life of fear is a life of safety, but you won’t become what you want to be.  A growth mindset embraces the new, tries for the experience, not for the result.  All ends will bring you a lesson and valuable information so that the next try will be different and more successful.  What is your mindset today?

How Do You Move?

Is your choice taking you towards or away from the best version of yourself?

Each of us has an image of the ideal person we want to be. It may be how you physically want to look, or how much money you want to have in the bank, or the relationship you want to share your life.  All of our choices are either moving us toward this ideal or away from it.  Think about that, you make thousands of small decisions every day, and each one is pushing you in a direction and toward a result.  Being aware of your choices and what they mean for your desired results gives you the power to move closer to being the best version of yourself.

Where do you move to today? If you desire a great body, what food you choose to put into your mouth, the exercises you do, and the sleep you decide to get will determine your health — moving you closer or farther away from that idea. It is most important to take responsibility for our movement. It is our decisions that impact us in one direction or another.  If I choose to be in a relationship with a self-centered narcissist, am I moving closer or further away from my ideal relationship? I have to take responsibility for my choice, which has driven me further away from where I want to be. All of our decisions have power and direction. Keep this in mind as you make your thousands of choices today. Are you moving toward or away?

The Point of Choice

Let’s start looking at those choices we make in more detail.  In all instances, even the most snap decisions we make, there is a moment where two or more roads are available and open to us. This location is the point of choice, and it is from here we form and create our lives. I know I have allowed the subconscious autopilot of my mind to make too many choices for me. There is comfort in choosing the things you have

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always done. You can clearly understand the results. But it is essential to realize just because you always choose one thing. There are a host of other possibilities out there waiting for you in the world. You can always choose a different path.

Take time in your day and look at the decisions you make consciously.  Why are you choosing the coffee you drink? The route to work? What do you wear? How do you speak to others? How do you think about other people? Is it the result you want to allow you to grow? Or are these things the choices you have always made? Safe and sound moments that hold you solidly in the past and place. You will not become something else if you cling to the mold of what you currently are. So often, it isn’t the decisions we make but our judgments about them that determine how they affect our lives.  We think something is terrible. After all, our mothers told us it was good because we saw a commercial in the media telling us exactly how to think and feel about things.  Your choice is to be a sheep or to make your path.

In the End, You Make Your Life

It is a result of your choices of the substance of your life springs. Complain if you want. Be angry about how much money you have and the career you are experiencing. Be disappointed with your relationships in life.  Then understand that you have been the creator of it all and the choices you have made.  Now you have the chance to move in a different direction, in a movement of positive growth. Have the understanding of yourself and your journey and know a step into the uncertain abyss of life is a step into development, and hiding where you are in the safety of the simple, is a trap. Get out of the web.  Life is a journey from where we are right now in this moment to where and what we want to be in the future.

“Don’t go through life; grow through life.” – Eric Butterworth

“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.” – Abraham Maslow

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall

“Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it, and eventually, the confidence will follow.” – Carrie Fisher.