The mind is everything. What you think, you become.
-Buddha
Where is your mind when you wake up on Monday morning? What mindset do you take into your day?
Do you spend time the night before going over what needs to be done the following day to set yourself up for success? When you wake up, do you take control of your thoughts so they can work on your behalf?
Do you have a mindset practice that supports you in cultivating and maintaining a positive mindset? What is a mindset practice? Why is mindset so important?
I think we often do not realize the importance of our mindset but it is as crucial as the food we eat and the air we breathe.
We all have thousands of thoughts per day and if we don’t monitor them, they can lead us down the garden path.
Think about how many negative thoughts you have just in the span of an hour – ‘That was stupid. I screwed that up. I look terrible. I really blew that speech. I sounded like a real idiot.’ And on and on.
It’s a wonder we get anything done with our negative nit-picking going on all the time. This is why it is so important to become aware of your thoughts and to consciously and deliberately choose thoughts that support you.
I started maximizing my mindset work several months ago. Now when I wake up in the morning, I lay in bed for a few minutes. I tell myself, this is a great day. I preview my day for a few minutes and then I spend a few minutes giving thanks for everything I have in my life – my health, my family, my relationships, my work, and on and on. This sets the mode for my day before I even get out of bed. Throughout my day, I catch myself when I start to go down a negative path or if I notice my energy is shifting to a negative tone. I then choose a different thought – instead of saying, this isn’t working or this is frustrating, I shift it to, how can I do this differently, what are some other ways to accomplish this task?
If this seems a bit overwhelming, try this abundance meditation for five minutes as a starting point. Spending five minutes consciously choosing your thoughts every day is a powerful tool to start rewiring your brain.
If you think about the neural pathways in our brains, when we have been thinking a certain way for a long time, the pathways are like a super highway. When we decide we want to create new pathways, it is like coercing the neurons to go down the jagged, overgrown dirt road. They prefer the super highway. It takes work and persistence to get them to go down the new road of thinking. The effort is worth it. 100%.
What I have learned is that it pays to be consistent. Find what works for you and keep doing it. For me, morning walks, meditation, and keeping a gratitude and abundance journal are my daily non-negotiable soul and self-care practices.
If you have a tendency to be negative and/or cynical, start catching yourself and redirect your thoughts. As you start to pay more attention to your thoughts, do so with curiosity, not judgement. Beating yourself up for having negative thoughts just perpetuates the cycle. Simply notice the thought, thank it, release it, and replace it with a thought that supports you on a higher vibration.
Ask yourself, what can I do to feel more joy, more love, freer, lighter? Then do that as much as possible throughout your day.
This is the tipping point for transforming your mind. Act and feel how you want to be right now, regardless of your circumstances.
Your thoughts are incredibly powerful. Why not use them to bring more good into your life?
I would love to hear from you. If you do not have a mindset practice, what one thing can you start doing to encourage your brain to think more positively? If you do have a mindset practice, what does it look like?
Sending you nothing but positive vibrations,
Kori