Do you ever find yourself feeling sick of hearing about mindset? Especially the concept of, “Just change your mindset and everything will change?”
Let’s explore more helpful ways of looking at mindset.
Mindset as Inner Visualization
Mindset is a buzzword that gets talked about by a lot of coaches, and spoken of frequently in many different ways.
The first time I ever heard about the concept of mindset was when I was a competitive swimmer. I was at the championship meet in my senior year of high school, and my coach came over, put his hands on my shoulders, looked me in the eye and said, “It’s all about your mindset. If you believe it in your mind, if you think about visualizing everything that you’re going to do and get it so clear in your mind, you’ll be amazed at what you can do.”
My coach kept talking to me about visualizing my form, my stroke, the turns, and how fast I could come off the turns, and I did it. I got my best time, but, funny enough, I missed making it to the next level and participating in the next championship meet by one one-hundredth of a second.
Part of me felt disappointed and discouraged. I had my fastest time, but missing the next level by such a small amount didn’t exactly make me feel good about it. Nonetheless, I learned that inner visualization of the process is one important element of mindset.
Mindset as Affirmation
The next area of mindset I started to learn about was the idea of affirmations.
You might remember when the movie The Secret came out. During that time, there was a lot going around about the idea of affirming to yourself what you want, and that if you say it everyday, it will happen. In the film, there’s a guy sitting in his recliner in his living room, imagining the recliner as a luxurious car he’s driving while shifting the gears.
As I watched this, in the back of my mind, I was thinking, “If he’s just sitting on his butt in his recliner in the living room all day, he’s never going to get that car.”
Just because you affirm or visualize something doesn’t mean everything you wish for will come true. You must do something to reach your goal.
Mindset as Intention
Next, I learned about the idea of setting intentions. Intentions have more power than affirmations because they have willpower behind them. In other words, there’s an aspect of action involved.
For instance, I can say that I want to do this, or I’m going to feel into it, visualize it and be grateful for it. But with intention, I’m committing to put my will into action and do what’s needed.
Having a clear intention, and then putting focused attention on your intention, will make things happen.
Mindset as Feeling and Self-Belief
“If you just believe you can do it and that it’s possible, it will happen.” We’ve all heard this one. Self-belief has to do more with how we feel than what we think.
Since I was young, I’ve always been a dreamer with big ideas. I often get told, “you’re overly romanticizing,” or “that’s too idealistic and will never happen.”
I learned young that it wasn’t okay to believe in myself, and that believing in myself was somehow too idealistic or too romantic or too selfish. As the idea of mindset as belief was coming around, I realized I had to change the story.
I started shifting what I believed in and about myself and life.
I’m still learning day by day to pay attention and notice my beliefs.
Mindset as Commitment
Once we start saying we’re going to believe in ourselves and in our dreams, go after the intentions that we’ve set, feel into the visions, affirm and be thankful for them every day, we then must commit to realizing our dreams.
The idea of a mindset is not just about thinking happy thoughts or saying I’m grateful, but never doing anything about it.
We must commit to the journey to realize our vision.
Summarizing the 6 Ways to Build Healthy Mindset
Visualization: Consider both inner visualization around how you show up, and outer visualization of the world around you.
Affirmation: Practice affirmations of gratitude that you’re affirming as if what you long to create or manifest is already done.
Intentions: Set very clear intentions around what you want to create and how you’ll move to create it.
Feelings: Feel into the experience you’re seeking to create or have with your whole being. Name the feelings connected with your vision. Is there a feeling of enthusiasm or incredible joy or deep gratitude or something else?
Beliefs: What are the beliefs and stories you’re holding in relation to the feelings and intentions? Is there anything that needs to shift?
Commitment: You must declare and implement your commitment to making things happen for yourself in your life.
These 6 areas, for me, are what mindset is really about. It’s a weaving of so many practices.
Bonus Method for Building Healthy Mindset
Another way to build a healthy mindset is embodied practice.
When we can embody all of these methods by practicing and moving closer to where we want to shift toward, i.e. when we practice believing, setting clear intentions, feeling and visualizing things, we’re literally embodying a new mindset within.
Everything changes when you practice. You get good at what you practice.
Practicing these tools will ultimately shift your mindset sustainably over time, and help you shift your vibration and align with what you want to create in the world.
Practicing the tools will move you forward.
It’s not just a simple “let’s think happy thoughts” approach. It’s a holistic weaving together of these beautiful possibilities.
For a video version of 6 Ways to Build Healthy Mindset, watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXAcOOILYgk
