Mindset explained.
We are currently living in a world that is sending us all kinds of messages. Many are mixed creating uncertainty, panic, fear yet we are being told all is ok if we view the things that are unfolding around us as life’s ‘new normal’. So why are some people coping ok with the changes while others are crumbling into a depressive / angry state?
Thoughts trigger emotions, and the vibrational frequency of these emotions then feed back into the original thought. And as we continue to give mental attention to the initial though, it reaffirms the emotion, which then energises the thought. And so we experience a continuous cycle of think, feel, think, feel, think, feel.
This results in the emotional state you come to experience: stressed, depressed, discouraged, angry, happy, energised, confident and so on.
How you think and how you feel directly impact how your body reacts, and all three influence how you behave and what actions you take.
This is how your thoughts create your reality. It’s in the way you behave and act that you define who you are and what you experience in life—and the way you behave and act is simply a construction of how you think, feel, and do.
So, in short:
- Emotions are the reactions to the thoughts you give attention to.
- How you feel (and your body language) is a reflection of what you’re thinking about.
- Since emotions and the body’s reactions are triggered by the thoughts you give attention to, therefore, you’re living in a world of thought: Your thoughts create your experiences, and thus, you experience what you think.
This means that all the problems we experience are nothing more than a thinking problem.
The “real problem” is not the problem.
The “real problem” is how we think about our problem.
We are not our circumstances.
We are what we think of our circumstances.
Our problems are nothing more than our emotional and body reactions to our thoughts about the problem. So if we can observe and change our attention or perception, we can change our emotional reaction, which then changes our body reaction, which ultimately changes how we act and experience our reality. And that’s exactly why true change begins from the inside, not the outside.
Every thought we experience creates a chemical reaction in the brain which then triggers an emotion. As we engage with this thought, it creates a new circuit that sends a signal to the body and we react a certain way. The more we repeat this pattern, the more it seeps into our mind and becomes a habit. This is why neuroscientists say “cells that fire together wire together.”
As you keep thinking the same thoughts, producing the same emotions and performing the same actions, you continue to live by the same experiences.
This is where my favourite word in this challenging year of 2020 comes into play. MINDSET. So, is mindset different to a thought?
Well, mindset is actually a collection of thoughts and beliefs that shape one’s thought habits. Some people refer to this as a frame of mind.
There are two different types of mindset:
- People with a fixed mindset believe that these qualities are inborn, fixed, and unchangeable.
- Those with a growth mindset, on the other hand, believe that these abilities can be developed and strengthened by way of commitment and hard work.
This is why it’s so hard to make change happen!
It’s because we’ve repeated the thought patterns so many times that they’ve now become rooted in who we are: Our thought patterns reinforced our beliefs, and our beliefs came to define who we are and the reality we experience.
More about Mindsets:
-Affected by experience, education and/or culture
-Tend to be fixed but CAN change
-Form quickly but resistant to change
-Affects how you perceive the world around you as well as yourself
-Affects your personal development and performance
Creating a new reality.
So what does this all mean to you?
This:
- As you keep thinking the same thoughts, producing the same emotions and performing the same actions, you continue to live by the same experiences.
- As we repeatedly engage in the same thought patterns of think, feel, do, these patterns encode as a blueprint in our subconscious mind.
- Your subconscious mind automates your life, which means (if you’re not aware of your thought patterns), you will continue to live by the same behavioural patterns—and thus, your current experiences. As per Carl Jung’s words: “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
So how do you change your reality?
You create new patterns that create a new reality.
You recondition yourself.
This isn’t something that you change overnight, this is a lifetime commitment to mindful reprogramming and growth. It’s what neuroscientists refer to as neuroplasticity—the idea that you can rewire your brain by creating new behavioural patterns where new cells fire together and wire together.
And in order for you to do this, you need to understand that you are not your thoughts, you are the thoughts you give power and attention to—you are the thinker.
Your thoughts are nothing more than an endless stream of ideas running through your mind.
They are powerless until you decide to cling onto one on them, which then trickle into a chain. This very act makes you the thinker of your thoughts.
And how do you create new thought patterns?
Here’s how:
- Increase your awareness by observing your emotions and body reactions.
- Be more conscious of what thoughts you give your attention to.
It’s what psychologists call metacognition—the idea of thinking about our thinking.
The next time you feel a strong emotion, bring your awareness to it by pausing and asking yourself:
“What’s going on in my mind right now? Why am I feeling this way?”
Why am I angry? Why am I upset? Why am I feeling so low?
This can help us figure out why we’re feeling what we’re feeling and drive us back to the root cause of these feelings: the thoughts we first gave our attention to.
It triggers an emotion, which then triggers a body reaction and drives us to act in a certain way.
This thought pattern creates a mental circuit in our brain, and as we repeat it, it becomes a subconscious behavioural pattern that runs on automation.
This is how your thoughts shape your reality.
This is why you are what you think.
And this is why all the great minds and thinkers agree that:
We live in a world of thought.
Our thoughts create our experiences, and thus, we experience what we think.
The quality of our thoughts creates the quality of our life.
This year has shaken many people. Many have lost their jobs, others missing loved ones due to lockdown or simply feel lost. Please know help is just a call away.
If you (or someone you know) is having suicidal thoughts or simply need someone to talk to, please use the links I have provided below to your advantage and help you get back on track (tap on each one to be linked directly).
Department of Health and Human Services
Help for Non-English Speaking Individuals
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