Achieving A Healthy Mindset
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Developing a strong mindset entails consistent practice over prolonged periods of time. It requires a sense of practicality and discipline that is all too often forgotten. It would be a mistake to think that the law of attraction is easy or that meditation will immediately alleviate depression. But if you seriously commit to developing your mindset so that you can focus on what you want over the long term, then the results will be life-changing. To do so, you will need to learn to rely on yourself.
It’s been said that you are your own best friend, and it’s true! People with a healthy mindset believe in themselves. They know that they deserve the best and that they are important. They don’t allow negative voices around them to bring them down. They have healthy affirmations that get them through negative situations. They refuse to succumb to the downward spiral caused by unhealthy criticism. They believe that they deserve love and support.
Being positive and self-loving doesn’t mean that they lie to themselves. No, people with a healthy mindset constantly check in to make sure they’re being honest. When they’ve “messed up” they take responsibility for their actions, they don’t make excuses, and they immediately make amends. Instead of complaining and whining, they honestly address a problem to find a healthy solution. When challenges come their way, they face them head-on and find a way through.
People with a healthy mindset don’t allow themselves to be timid or to hide their abilities. In the face of a challenge, they stand empowered and unafraid. When they want to achieve something difficult, they don’t cower or hide. They get out there, show up, and do hard things. They’re proud of who they are and what they can do to create meaningful change in the world.
Those with a healthy mindset aren’t afraid of making mistakes. They see them as opportunities to learn so they can do better next time. Once they’ve absorbed the lesson from the mistake, they don’t dwell on it. They move on and say, “What’s next!” They check in with themselves regularly to make sure they’re on course, then correct as needed. They don’t hold back or hold things in to avoid mistakes. Instead, they accept challenges and failures as part of developing better skills.
People with a healthy mindset are always open to new life lessons and personal growth. They love learning and welcome opportunities to grow – professionally and personally. They value staying “sharp” and find fun and challenging ways to keep on top of their mental health. They enjoy classes, workshops, and conferences that will teach them better life skills. They also see life lessons as opportunities for learning and growth.
Those with a healthy mindset know that you need to make a plan to achieve a goal. They understand the science of goal setting, so they simplify each goal into smaller, attainable steps. They take the time to find their “why” in life and they always remind themselves of that purpose. If their life is veering too far away from that purpose, they stop to evaluate and course correct.
Speaking of purpose… People with a healthy mindset spend lots of time thinking about what their purpose is in life. They direct their lives with meaning guiding the way. They have found their passion and they use it daily to give back to others. They find meaningful ways to contribute to their community through their life purpose.
Those with a healthy mindset know that negativity won’t help them overcome challenges and achieve personal growth. While they are always realistic about situations, they find ways to focus on the positive aspects to find a healthy solution. They always find the silver lining and something to look forward to.
A healthy mindset wouldn’t be healthy without balance. Those who have cultivated a healthy mindset know that extremism won’t allow you to grow, learn, and be positive. They seek balance and moderation in everything they do. They are ambitious, yet know when to rest. They take good care of their bodies, yet know when it’s okay to have a little fun. They give to others, yet also know when it’s time to give to themselves.
People with a healthy mindset focus on eating healthy and exercising consistently. They’ve developed a realistic plan that they know they can achieve daily. When they “fall off the wagon,” they get back on their path and keep going without delay. They know that sleep is crucial to overall health and well-being, so they find solutions to their sleep issues and always get enough rest. They manage their stress and find ways to relax every day. They also head outside regularly so they can enjoy the wellness benefits of nature.
People with a healthy mindset avoid surrounding themselves with toxic people who don’t love and support them. They seek out happy, positive people who are like-minded and supportive. They then guard their inner circle wisely to make sure they always surround themselves with love and compassion. The happy people around them support their happiness in return. They then reflect back that joy, resulting in a continuous circle of support and safety. They spend lots of time laughing with their tribe!
People with a healthy mindset realize that life will pass by quickly and that you need to slow down to enjoy each moment. They find activities that help them slow down. They take part in mindfulness practices so they can learn to be in the present. When things don’t go their way, they don’t get stuck and they don’t dwell. They keep moving and appreciating. They don’t hold back and they don’t hold things in. They respect the moment and do what is necessary to make it meaningful.
Understanding Your Mind
The first step in understanding the mind is to realize that your thoughts are what determines your everyday experiences. This is the basic premise of all spiritual texts and esoteric schools of thought. It is also reflected in many scientific spheres such as quantum mechanics.
Your Thoughts Can Become You
There are some scientific discoveries and psychological observations that might be of interest in understanding how the mind works.
These include:
The mind cannot distinguish between real and imaginary. 95% of your activity is subconscious (Try being consciously aware of every key you type on your computer. Your progress will be vastly reduced.) Your subconscious has stored everything that has ever happened to you, much like a gigantic computer. We are bombarded with 2 million bits of data every second. It is the job of the subconscious to filter through all of this.
The conscious mind remembers between 5-9 pieces of information. This information is passed to the subconscious for processing to free up conscious space. Most of our energy expenditure goes towards the brain. These discoveries have important implications. If the majority of our lives are fulfilled by the subconscious, it follows that we should try to manipulate our subconscious mind as opposed to our conscious abilities.
According to Carl Jung – “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate”.
Programming of the subconscious for conscious growth is the basis of affirmations and self-hypnosis for empowerment. But along with these strategies, there are other things to consider in order to create a positive mindset for growth and fulfillment.
Developing Mental Strength
Focusing on worry and stress, eating the wrong foods, in toxic relationships, with limiting beliefs that have been with you since childhood. These are not removed overnight. It can take years to rid yourself of certain thoughts and ideas, and you have to be constantly vigilant about what you are thinking and what you are consuming.
There are many ways to increase your mental and emotional power. And it has never been easier to embark on a campaign of self-development than it is today with all of the resources at your disposal, especially with the internet and instant communications. We have all of the tools. We just need some willpower and determination.
One basic way to build mental strength is with an exercise routine. Write out your goals and objectives and see if you can stick with them. This might seem like very basic and fundamental advice. But both diet and exercise provide valuable insights into our behavior and they are the two foundational modalities that which mental strength can be built.
If you do not keep track of the fundamentals you will run into difficulties later on. Trying to become a master of the mind while staring at a TV all day and eating ice cream is just not realistic. Diet and exercise can be used to build a strong character and a healthy body and mind.
Experiment with Diet
Diet is another place to start developing mental strength. I think we all understand that we will function better without caffeine, sugar, ice cream, and other processed products. Yet many people cannot go a single week without those items which clearly disturb mental well-being. Try and see if you can go on a certain diet for a week. And when you don’t stick to it, try and examine why this is the case.
You will begin to realize how affected you are by the environment, how just being in a shop or entering a restaurant caused you to act instinctively and buy an item that you knew was unhealthy. In other words, your environment determines your behavior.
The Importance of the Surrounding Environment
For mental strength, try to manipulate the environment first. In this way, you will be taking away the opportunity to fail. Manipulating the environment for mental strength will mean that you make use of the concept of minimalism as much as possible. The less information and distractions you have in general, the clearer the mind will be.
So clean your room and your office, even the files on your PC. This will have a positive impact on your mental wellbeing. People who tend to hoard items find fresh mental energy when they let go of their many possessions and send them to the trash heap. Limit the time you spend on television and switch off your phone at night. Eliminating cable is also a good idea.
Even things like making your bed in the morning and spending some time out in nature can really help to get the mind in order. Another way of describing the concept of the universe being a product of the mind is that ‘the outer reflects the inner’. We can easily tell the personality of an individual by the state of his or her bedroom. It can be obsessively neat and tidy or it can be much like a dump.
Ideally, it could be neat and orderly with a few items thrown around here and there. Understanding the importance of the environment is an important discovery. It means that we can change external objects and situations that will positively reflect on our internal state, and vice versa.
Negative Mental Devices. Advertising and Media
The destructive nature of advertising and the media becomes more important when people start to look inside and understand the power of their own thoughts. If the majority of our actions are subconscious and advertising and media are specifically aimed at manipulating our environment, then they have a large say in how we behave. Scientific data has shown that people are victims of advertising even when they view themselves as impervious.
When we see something, our conscious minds might not take it in. But our subconscious most certainly does. So almost by default, we are all victims of the surrounding environment which is aimed at subverting our actions. And it does an excellent job, given that consumerism is running rampant and people are now paying nearly $1,000 for phones alone while morals and ethics fall by the wayside. If you are serious about developing your mind, then it needs to be as clear as possible. Reduce your exposure to advertising and media where appropriate.
Media is largely negative. And your subconscious mind is simply going to ingest negative material which will be reflected in your conscious daily activities. It is never a good idea to actively seek out this negative information. Most people fool themselves into believing that they need to “keep in touch with reality”, which is hilarious to people who actually understand how reality operates.
Don’t let pointless information from advertising, the media, or other people take up valuable cognitive space by default. To limit this exposure, you need to get a little organized and create an empowering environment that is conducive to clear thinking.
Practices for Serious Mental Development
Once you have a good environment with a reasonable diet and regular exercise, you can investigate practices that are more directly orientated toward mental development. Remember that everything that you do is stretching the mind to some degree or another, whether it is diet, exercise, writing, or walking.
But we need to use the most direct methods, and we also want to avoid patterns that do not expand the mind. The following are the best practices for you to really master your own personal psychology.
If you want to proceed rapidly, then undertake one or a number of these models. How often and at what intensity you want to do these practices is up to you.
Meditation should come as no surprise to anyone as the best kind of practice for mental development. It involves sitting quietly (ideally in a lotus position) and observing the movements of the mind. After a period of time, the mind starts to quiet down and become less frantic. You will become less reactive to outside events and be able to monitor and control your thoughts more efficiently.
The two most popular kinds of meditation are Vipassana and Transcendental Meditation. Both of these have an extensive body of scientific literature pertaining to their benefits. There is no excuse for not instigating a regular meditation routine. It is verified by science, practiced by many high-level individuals, and has historic roots in spiritual systems. Twice a day for 20 minutes is the recommended timeframe for optimal results, morning and evening. You can also consider an intense course for a week to really get started.
Yoga is a practice of body movements involving breath, concentration, balance, flexibility, and physical strength. When the movements are executed in a certain fashion the practitioner comes into a flow state and can complete the whole hour-long routine effortlessly. The coordination of concentration, breathing, and physical exertion is perfect for subduing the mind. It is not possible to exercise the routine while the mind is active, as it gets in the way. Yoga is best completed when it becomes a regular habit that does not require conscious thought.
Fasting
Though this might be described as an extreme method, fasting is one of the best ways to master your mind. Food is more important to a human being than anything else. Giving up food for a significant period of time can have many benefits and takes incredible willpower. Additionally, fasting is the only thing that has been proven to increase longevity in rats and humans perform best when they are a little hungry. There are many different kinds of fast, such as a water fast, a dry fast, a juice fast, etc. Consider a 3-day juice fast once a month for an emotional and mental detox.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness takes many forms and there are a wide variety of mindfulness practices. It really involves being aware at regular intervals throughout the day. Mindfulness can be combined with meditation for maximum results. In meditation, we are deeply “non-focused” for 20 minutes or so twice a day. With mindfulness, we are simply more aware of things at periods throughout our working day. For example, we might leave our desks every 40 minutes and just be mindful of our breathing for a single minute to detach us from our tasks. Mindfulness is often linked with the breath, as this is a quick route to the present moment.
Concentration
There are many other techniques to increase concentration. You could focus on a candle flame for five minutes a day. You can also focus on the top of your nose or your breath. Most spiritual practitioners recommend no longer than 10 minutes of intense concentration on anything. Coincidentally, ten minutes is the maximum amount of time that a human being can intensely focus on anything, according to scientific research. There are a wide variety of concentration techniques that you can make use of.
Practice with Passion or Intensity
If you can find something that you are really passionate about then you can continue to focus on this with single-minded intensity. This can include painting, singing, dancing, martial arts, creating a business, or anything that you really give 100% of your mental attention towards. This is because you won’t have the time to energize negative thoughts or emotions as all of your resources are aimed towards one particular activity.
This is one of the most effective ways to control the mind and remove destructive tendencies. But unless you are really passionate about something, it can be difficult to develop the concentration and willpower to see it through. This is why most people give up on their resolutions after the initial phase.
Options To Consider
There are some strategies you can use if you really want to gain control over the mind. They are designed so that you will make breakthroughs that will stand for you over the long term. Consider an 11-day silent retreat in a serene location, out in nature. During this silent retreat, you will meditate twice a day, complete a yoga routine, and stick to a vegan diet without alcohol, sugar, or processed foods. You should also be completely removed from technology during this time.
You will benefit from such a regime immensely for a number of reasons. You can observe the contrast between the silent retreat and the insanity and noise of the everyday environment. You can also observe the contrast when you reintroduce certain foods back into your diet. You should aim for some kind of seclusive practice to reconnect every 3 months or so. It will help you to understand that the normal work environment is psychotic and there you can achieve a peaceful state of being without a frantic mind generating fear and anxiety all the time.
Self Programming Strategies
There are other strategies you can use to program your mind. Remember that the time you are just waking and the time that you are settling down to sleep are the best times for self-programming. Meditation is another key time. But you still need to utilize the rest of the day as much as possible to put yourself into a positive state of mind. If you have a desk job, then you are stuck on a computer for 8 hours a day. You might as well make the most of it. Listen to classical music for a couple of hours a day. Binaural beats and theta brainwave entrainment tracks are available on YouTube and on other sites.
Alternatively, record yourself saying empowering affirmations and listen to it for an hour. Subconsciously, the statements “I am rich”, “I am attractive”, and “I am intelligent” are going to sink in and start to manifest in your everyday life. You could also consider lucid dreaming or seeing a therapist as a means of accessing the subconscious. There are a large number of self-programming strategies available. Just pick one or two and stick with them for a consistent length of time.
Remember, self-programming consists of two parts. The first is what you program yourself with. The second is what you are able to block out. You might be telling yourself how attractive you are, but other people and the world might like to tell you otherwise. Create a clean work and personal environment and get rid of people who drain your energy. Also, limit time spent on social media and time spent exposed to advertisements of all kinds.
Tools for Development
The sheer power of imagination has not been given its due in either religion, science, or spirituality. All of these seek to give the student a system of a mode of operation with regard to how to live and behave. But creativity and imagination are in a league of their own and are uniquely individual practices. There is no system or structure to imagination or creative work.
How Does Imagination Work?
It can be a little difficult to describe exactly what imagination is and how it works. But it bears a resemblance to meditation in terms of dissolving issues and finding solutions. Because when using the imagination, the individual is in an altered state of consciousness. There is no way to compose wonderful poetry or a breathtaking painting when the logical side of the brain is activated. Because the logical side of the brain wants to understand why each piece is placed in a certain way and wants to work sequentially in an ABC fashion. This is not how creativity works, which experiments and sees how things play out without paying attention to standard rationality.
It is the imagination, not logical processes, that is responsible for most human achievements. Steve Jobs used his imagination to create an entirely new product range that had never been seen before. Tesla is doing the same with his Space X and electric-car projects. These are completely new paradigms. And consider that the best and most notable geniuses may not have even gone to school.
According to Edward Bach after he finished his studies -“it will take me five years to forget all I have been taught”. Einstein had no faith in school and famously stated that “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will get you anywhere”.
The imagination is an amazingly powerful tool when you deploy it correctly and it can generate a large number of healing benefits. This is another argument for the Law of Attraction proponents. Logically, you might find that you have an unresolved issue that you need to troubleshoot. But if you are highly imaginative and channel this in the right direction towards a core passion, your issues will dissolve without further investigation.
Additionally, some creative proponents assert that imagination is a way of bringing the subconscious to the conscious. In this way, you can paint a painting or symbol about an issue that you cannot consciously identify with. You might not understand why you feel good after doing a certain piece of creative work, but it could be because it touches on inner issues that cannot be consciously analyzed or discussed.
The way that the subconscious communicates is in images and metaphors, not in logic or text. This is what children often do when they play and paint. Either way, extensive use of creativity and imagination can do wonders for self-development and mental strength.
Creative Wealth Manifestation Tricks
There are some creative strategies that you can deploy in order to ‘trick’ your brain into an abundance mindset. In many ways, you can treat it like a game. The brain is used to generating worry and fear at all times in relation to money. You need to try and get around this ingrained tendency by pretending to be wealthy. The brain does not have the capacity to distinguish between real and imaginary phenomena, as demonstrated by recent scientific studies. Consider what happens when you think about your favorite food – your body actually starts responding biologically.
Your stomach will start to grumble and you might even start salivating, despite no physical food being present. The more you think about food, the ‘hungrier’ your body becomes. Likewise, the universe does not differentiate between real and imaginary, so you can use creative practices to trick yourself into thinking thoughts of wealth.
When Possible Try These Methods
Carry cash at all times. Where possible, make sure that your wallet is full of cash. It is better to have it on you physically. In the same vein, remember to tip 20% at all times. Both of these techniques have two significant effects. The first is that you will get into the mindset of someone wealthy, as you will be used to constantly having enough cash and always tipping well. The second is that other people actually view you as wealthy and start manifesting for you. They are also used to seeing you having money and being rich and associate your persona with wealth.
Be grateful. Gratitude is the holy grail of manifestation. It has an advantage over manifestation because it can make you happy, while manifestations tend to be short-lived. If you can master both manifestation and gratitude, then you are really a master. Because you will be manifesting what you want and already appreciative of what you have. Additionally, when you are grateful for what you have already manifested, the universe shows you more things to be grateful for and manifestation becomes easier.
Involve Yourself In Different Activities
Immersion is arguably one of the quickest and best ways to improve your mental and emotional conditioning. It is also one of the hardest. Imagine if you spent a year learning Mandarin Chinese while simultaneously learning C programming and Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. It would be an immensely difficult year for you. It would also be one of the most rewarding if you were able to pull it off.
This is because each of these areas will teach your brain different things. When people learn things in a classroom it is usually the worst kind – rote learning reading from a screen. This is just not a healthy way to learn things and is also very repetitive.
The way that people learn is every bit as important as the subject matter. So learning a language while talking to people is nothing like learning grammar from a book. And trying to create a new program in a software language is different from learning it in a classroom. Learning all three of these is just not realistic in the modern-day environment. But you could consider doing one of them, at least part-time. There are also different forms of immersion.
Strategies
Creativity is an excellent tool that you can use in nearly any context. Once you open up your creativity just a little, you can build momentum and make innovation and imagination core components of your existence. But it always takes commitment and willpower at the start to immerse yourself in the creative process. Consider that Mark Zuckerberg publicly posted that he was going to spend a year learning Mandarin Chinese. Intelligent people are constantly looking for ways to expand their mental capabilities.
Travel is one of the most common immersion strategies available. Learning how different people think and behave is excellent for contrasting against your own personal values and beliefs. The starkest example of this is when people of the West go to places like India and Thailand in the East. While people in the West are goal-orientated and live in the future, the people of the East tend to live in the moment more (this has its own set of drawbacks, as they generally don’t seem motivated enough in terms of self-development).
Many people spend at least a year of their lives traveling. However, they tend to go the wrong way about it. They often do it near the end of their lives and try to fit in as many places as possible like ticking boxes off a checklist. When traveling, it is best to spend longer time periods in a set location to really imbibe the culture.
You can immerse yourself in anything. Try to immerse yourself in minimalism for a month. No TV, smartphone, no unhealthy food, no social media, no computer, clean desk, clean room, a small set of clothes, etc. Remember that 21 days is the time it takes to incorporate a habit. So if you manage to follow through with something for over 21 days, then you can carry this habit forward with far less effort than when you started out.
Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone
In the modern world, people are set on trying to be comfortable. The biggest fear of someone in the modern era is to lose their income so they could not afford cable television or a smartphone bill, both of which do not contribute any real value while eating precious cognitive space.
It is modern-day comforts that are actually a cause of much distress, as well as the constant striving for more and more and more. When you confront your fears so directly they lose a lot of their energy. They are only so powerful when you don’t look at them. This could also be called a form of shadow work in the form of directly confronting fears.
You can easily discover your fears through some creative writing and asking yourself some questions. Or just write out a list of things that you would never consider doing and ask yourself why. If you hate public speaking, try doing it intensely for a month or so. As painful as it is, you would be making immense progress.
Alternative Mindset
One of the best ways to expand the mind is to read and research from a wide variety of different fields of study. In the West, we are certain that the scientific method is the best and the only one that works. But we cannot ignore the fact that our countries are sick, the planet is polluted, and people are largely addicted to technology. Suicide rates are sky high and people are coming down with different illnesses that were not there before.
Our way of thinking and understanding is limited not only to our geographical location but also to our time. If Western science was to mix with Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda instead of dismissing these two systems, then more progress would be made. In any case, it can be helpful to see and understand different frameworks in order to strengthen our own minds. However, be wary of reading too much information and becoming no more than an abstract thinker without any real-world applications.
Ayurveda is the sister science of astrology and also originated in India. Ayurveda describes three kinds of energy – Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Each person is one of 11 combinations of these elements and based on this combination recommendations are given with regard to exercise, diet, and meditation. Ayurveda is perfect for explaining the gaps in nutrition knowledge that Western science falls down on.
In Conclusion
There are a wide variety of ways to develop your mindset for greater success both personally and financially. A good place to get started would be diet, exercise, meditation, and affirmations. These are the most straightforward and effective to get the mind under control in a very tangible way. Once you have a solid grasp on these, you can consider immersion techniques and creative processes to really expand your awareness. Remember that developing a mindset will become a lifelong but thoroughly enjoyable experience. You just need to troubleshoot negative beliefs and emotional issues for a while before you can really expand.
Our minds can become stubborn to change especially as we get older. Change can mean we need to step out of that comfort zone we have become so familiar with. It all comes down to you asking yourself the question. Are you happy or do you feel you can do better?
Thank you for reading
Michael
Comments are welcome
Hello there!. This is really an awesome article. Reading this article has made me to understand that there are different ways to understand how to develop one’s mindset for greater success. And this can be done through exercising, the use of the right food. Even thought our minds are somewhat stubborn to change, we must be willing for the change, thank you.
Hi Maureen,
Thank you for your comments. Glad you liked it.
All the best,
Michael