Monday, July 8, 2013

Your Mindset Is One Of Your Most Powerful Tools

Posted by:  Darlene Duncan CWDP, JSS, CCC, JCTC, JCDC
                  Training Coordinator

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. Buddha


A positive mindset is one of the most powerful tools you have available to you and it costs you nothing. I have personal experience with the power of the mind. When I first started working on changing my mindset from a negative to a positive, I looked at this way; I didn’t have anything to lose.

If I employed a more positive mindset and nothing changed in my life then I hadn’t really lost anything beyond a little effort to try and keep my thoughts positive.

If on the other hand if being more positive in the way I looked at things changed my life for the better, I would gain a great deal.

It was a risk I was willing to take and I’m very glad I did. Life on the positive side of the fence is much better. What you believe about yourself is your reality. So if you believe that you’re a capable, valuable individual then that’s what you are and you will behave accordingly. Likewise, if you think of yourself as a failure incapable of doing anything right, well, you’ll be that incompetent failure. We are what we think we are.

So what did I do to change my mindset to a more positive mode?

In the beginning, I focused on how I talked to myself about myself. No longer was I allowed to call myself names like, stupid and idiot. Whenever I caught myself saying those things to myself, I stopped and instead reminded myself of all the things I was good at and all my accomplishments. For example, when I needed to learn to use Microsoft Excel there were very few books available. None of the schools offered classes on just that software. If you wanted to learn anything computer related you went to school for a degree in computers. So I got my hands on what few books the library had to offer and taught myself to use Excel, mostly by trial and error.

So step one is to stop talking to yourself in a negative way.

Step two was to stop watching the news. When I tell people this they tend to look at me as if I just admitted I’m from another planet and then proved it by growing a second head. But seriously, think about it, what’s on the news? Murder, rape, arson and scandal are the basics. If a story is full of blood and misery it will be the top story. It will also be repeated every ten minutes along with the traffic and weather. Is there any wonder you’re agitated and angry before you ever leave the house in the morning? Believe me, you’re still going to know what’s going on in the world. Your friends and relatives will be more than happy to keep you informed, whether you want to hear it or not. In addition, you’ll over hear conversations in line at the grocery store and then there’s the television at you favorite fast food place that’s tuned to the news. It’s not like you can escape hearing the news. You just don’t have to wallow in it. Try it, you’ve got nothing to lose except the agitation caused by constant exposure to all that negativity.

The next thing I did was begin to avoid those negative people in my life. You know the ones I mean. The ones that will tell you if they ever managed to buy the winning LOTTO ticket, they would lose it before they could collect. It’s virtually impossible to lead a positive lifestyle if you are spending time with negative people.

While there are other things you can do to have a more positive mindset those three steps should get you well on your way.

STEP 1 – Talk nice to yourself about yourself

STEP 2 – Stop wallowing in the news

STEP 3 – Avoid those people in your life who are negative


Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.

Dr. Wayne Dyer
 
 
 

1 comment: