Mindset Makeover: Creating a Beautiful Life
By Erin Monahan
Which of these statements sounds more like you?
“I’m either good at it or I’m not.”
“I can learn anything I want.”
“If I don’t try, then I won’t fail.”
“Failures are opportunities for growth.”
“I’m jealous of other people’s success.”
“I’m inspired by other people’s success.”
These are all examples of mindset.
Your mindset is a set of beliefs that shape how you make sense of the world and yourself. It’s your worldview (as evidenced by your attitude) and it affects every aspect of your life. How you think, feel and behave. How you relate to yourself and other people. How you handle good days and bad days. In other words, your mindset affects how you experience life and how other people experience you.
This article explains what your mindset is, where it comes from and why it means everything.
Photo by Erin Monahan
Mindset Matters
Your mindset is unique to you, because it’s formed through your experiences, education, upbringing, culture, and faith. No one else on earth interprets life exactly as you do!
Your mindset can unlock the fullness of your life, or it can shrink it. The choice is yours.
That’s right. The choice is yours.
There’s so much power in that statement. And yet, many people don’t know this truth. They don’t realize how their mindset affects their reality. Instead, they live by default without questioning the thoughts and feelings they wake up with every day. And then they wonder why it’s so hard to make certain changes and see different results in their life.
When was the last time you honestly assessed your mindset?
Fixed & Growth Mindsets
Some psychology experts, including Dr. Carol Dweck, PhD., lump mindset into two general categories: fixed and growth.
Dr. Dweck says people with a fixed mindset believe their basic qualities of intelligence, talent, creativity, and skill are fixed traits. They believe life dealt them a certain hand and they are stuck with it.
On the flip side, she says people with a growth mindset believe they can become better than they are right now through dedication and hard work. They believe their brains and talents are simply the starting point.
Where do you land on this mindset spectrum?
You might have a fixed mindset if you:
Believe failure is permanent.
View critical feedback as a personal attack.
Choose easier tasks and put in minimal effort.
Give up in the face of obstacles.
Focus primarily on measurable accomplishments (awards, money, etc.).
Avoid taking creative risks.
You might have a growth mindset if you:
Believe failure is a chance to learn and pivot.
View critical feedback as a chance to improve and develop new systems.
Embrace challenging tasks and work hard to improve.
View obstacles as a chance to experiment and solve problems.
Focus on the journey of continual improvement.
Take creative risks.
Considering these characteristics outlined by Dr. Dweck is a good place to start. We learn that people with a growth mindset have a more positive approach to life and those with a fixed mindset are more negative. Thankfully, Dr. Dweck assures us that it’s possible to change our mindset.
But confining the complexities of mindset into two categories — fixed and growth — seems rather limiting. What happens when we zoom out to view the larger picture of life as we know it? Would we notice how everything connects? Would we see how our choices influence our outcomes? Would we adopt a wholistic mindset?
Wholistic Mindset
To understand what it means to have a wholistic mindset (also known as “holistic”), it helps to examine it in the context of wholistic wellness.
As its name implies, wholistic wellness is an approach to health that recognizes you as a whole person. It seeks to balance your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. In this approach, health is the goal and wellness is the active process of achieving it.
When you adopt a wholistic mindset, you uplevel a growth mindset with the awareness that everything in your life is connected. And you make choices accordingly.
For example, it’s an undisputed fact that getting quality sleep is essential for your health. But what happens when you can’t sleep? How is your mindset affected? Unfortunately, a night of tossing and turning can easily manifest into a day of being tired, groggy and more vulnerable to stinking thinking.
Unless you control your mindset!
Photo by Erin Monahan
Change Channels
A sleepless night is something most of us can relate to. And it’s definitely harder to feel growth-minded and wholistic when you haven’t slept. But you always have a choice. You can set your mind to rise above your circumstances (fatigue, brain fog, etc.) and make it a meaningful day, or you can shift into default mode and go with the flow of foul thoughts and feelings.
Make the wise choice and change the channel of your mind!
By the way, a wholistic mindset would also compel you to figure out why you didn’t sleep. What were the possible causes of disruption? What can you do to avoid them?
Practical Prompts
If you’re not sure how growth and wholistic mindsets could work for you, take ’em for a test-drive. Start small and note any changes.
The following prompts can help:
Practice gratitude. Gratitude is like the ground-zero of mindset makeovers. Be thankful for where you are and what you have now.
Challenge your thoughts. You’re not at the mercy of all the thoughts that plop into your mind. You can challenge them. Or, as the Bible says, you can take your thoughts captive.
Explore ways to see your world differently. Getting a new perspective on an old mindset often means moving beyond your usual boundaries. Expand your perspective by volunteering, reading books, watching movies, traveling to new places, and talking to new people.
Take inventory of your influences. Pay attention to the voices you let into your world. Garbage in = garbage out.
Give yourself and others lots of grace. Life isn’t easy for anyone. It takes a lifetime to learn how to navigate it, so be patient with yourself and others.
Seek wise input. Information and inspiration are everywhere. Be on the lookout for people who have wisdom to share. You can start by watching this happiness video! (The first 6 minutes might surprise you.)
Celebrate your strengths. Whether or not you know it, you are amazing! Instead of focusing on what you think is wrong with you, get to know your strengths. The VIA Survey of Character Strengths is a free self-assessment.
Address the 5 pillars of your health. According to functional medicine, the following lifestyle factors are foundational to your health. On a scale from 0 to 10 (with 10 being the best), how would you rate yourself? (1) Sleep and Restoration (2) Exercise and Movement (3) Nutrition (4) Stress (5) Relationships and Community Support
Next Steps
The next time you find yourself at a mindset crossroads, remember this quote by Maya Angelou:
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
Simply knowing that it’s possible to change your mindset is the first step in creating a more beautiful life!
If you, or someone you know, wants to learn more about wholistic wellness, the providers at Wholistic Wellness Services are here for you. Contact them for an appointment.
Erin Monahan is a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach and Health Writer based in central Indiana. Find her at healthcoachcollective.com, LinkedIn and Instagram @ erinmariehealthcoach.
The information, ideas and conversations provided in this content are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, prescription, diagnosis, or treatment. Any application of the information, ideas and conversations provided is at your discretion and is your sole responsibility.