The Power of The Mind

Our minds are constantly consumed and affected by the world around us. As this can feel extremely overwhelming, the question becomes: how do we take back our minds?

It is extremely easy to underestimate the power of the mind and how much control it has over us and our lives. For me, this stems true in that for a long period of my life, I have been tied down and held back by my mindset. Before fully diving into this topic, I want to acknowledge that it is a very difficult process to change our mindsets. No matter how beneficial it may be, change is hard. Plain and simple. However uncomfortable and challenging this may be, I encourage you to read through this post and take away what resonates with you!

In this week’s post, I will cover three main ideas within the concept of mindsets.

The first concept I want to touch on is shape.

Our mindsets are shaped by our experiences. If we think back to the very beginning of our lifetime, no one was born thinking a certain way. The minute we entered the world, we had a clean slate with no information. So, the only information we began to receive was from our experiences and our surroundings. This leads me to include that it is not your fault for having the mindset that you do. The things we endure shape how we view and see the world, which in turn affects the mindset we develop.

An example of this in my own personal life is my medical experiences. As mentioned in previous posts, I have quite a hefty medical background which has brought me countless amounts of challenging experiences. One specific aspect of this can be identified as the surgeries, diagnoses, and doctor’s appointments that I have endured. From dentists to cardiac surgeons and beyond, going through medical endeavors as a young child has an unquestionable impact on someone and their developing mindset. The other aspect of these experiences can be identified within the ways society views differences. It is not easy to experience exclusion and ableism from others. From the stares and comments I have received, to the bullying I have gone through, it is often incredibly difficult to maintain a positive and unaffected mindset through it all. Now, while my mindset has unquestionably become impacted by my experiences, I eventually realized that when it comes down to it, I’m in charge of my mindset.

"I'm in charge of my mindset."

This leads me to my second point which is control.

When it comes down to it, we have control over our minds. Even though we all go through negative and difficult experiences throughout our lifetime, or even our everyday lives, it doesn’t stop there. If anything, that is only where our journey begins.

An important thing in my journey was the realization that although I have had little-to-no control over numerous aspects of my life, I eventually realized that I did have control over one thing; how I respond to situations and the power that I let them have over me. The point within this is the idea that we have control over how we respond to the things we experience. By allowing ourselves to carefully respond and process what may come our way, we are reshaping the narrative and are gaining the power to reconstruct our mindsets. All in all, our minds do not have control over us, but rather we have control over them!

This leads me to my last point which is honesty.

It is a critical concept within this topic to maintain honesty within ourselves. By keeping ourselves accountable for where our mindsets are currently at, honestly, we are better able to navigate how to improve them.

Now, I realize that as I’m going over these points, it is far easier to say these things than to believe or act on them. And to be completely transparent with you, I am JUST now actively acting on this realization and have recently started doing the work to implement this in my own life. So, I am discussing this insight and reflection as I am actively standing alongside you as we all walk through this complex concept together.

I want to share three practical positivity practices that we can all begin to implement in our lives throughout this upcoming week!

1. Do the things you enjoy.

I know we may hear this frequently, but once we actually sit down and think about what it means, it becomes a powerful concept. Learning to truly find and act on the things we enjoy is an essential part of improving our minds. Once we practice honesty and control as mentioned in this post, we are saying yes to the things we want and saying no to the things that don’t serve us and feel good to do.

2. Positive affirmations:

Through affirming ourselves with the things we wish to be, have, and desire, our minds become fed with positivity. This can look like sticking to one small phrase to tell yourself throughout the week, or making a list of affirmations you wish to see come true in your life. Some examples of this may look like this:

• “I choose happiness today.”

• “I am joyful.”

• “I have control over my mind.”

2. Notice the small things and don’t feel afraid to voice them.

Something I have done recently is allow myself to pick up on the things that bring me joy. It’s not uncommon for us to feel as though we’re on autopilot. So, by actively noticing the things in our lives that fill us up, bring us happiness, and put a smile on our faces, we are doing the work to help continue to reconstruct and strengthen our mindsets.

Try making a list of things you notice you enjoy throughout your day-to-day life. No matter how small or random, these are the things that we need to rely on and fall back on when difficult moments come out way. Some things from my own personal list include:

• Listening to Christmas music

• Taking a walk

• Drinking a warm cup of coffee

Through each of these practices, we are consciously focusing on enhancing the progression of our minds.

REFLECT

After reading more about the concept of our minds, how would you identify the current state of yours? How can you increase the positivity of your mindset? I encourage you to reflect on these questions as we enter the beginning of a new year.