How many of you have had experience with a person who had numerous tragedies in their life yet kept a smile on their face and had joy in their heart? Or maybe just the opposite is true you have a friend or family member who always seems to be negative; in other words the glass is always half empty. Have you found yourself maybe personally going in either of the above directions depending on the circumstance?
It certainly is easy to feel bright and cheerful when everything is going well with our personal world, but to maintain that when things are not so right can be a key to our health and wellness.
Our “Mindset” or how we look at events is determined by many factors. These can include our parents, friends, work and or school environment to name a few. How many of you have heard some of the following statements;
“Well my Dad died of heart disease so it is only a matter of time before I do.
Cancer runs in my family so I wonder what type I will get.
Yes your Mom has memory problems but we all will someday. This last statement was told to me by a physician when I was in the process of having my mother evaluated for Dementia. To say the least I had to get another practitioner knowing that a physician that had that attitude was not serving the best interest for my mother or our family.
Mindset types can fall into a couple of different categories. The empowered individual (abundance) versus the victim (scarcity) mindset.
The empowered Individual has the following characteristics
- accepts control over their health and personal responsibility for getting better
- Looks for guidance and co-creating health
- Willing to invest time and resources into finding answers
- Realistic goals and timeline for improving health
The Victim individual
- Blames others or external factors for their health
- Looks for someone to fix them and a quick fix
- Every intervention is a last resort
- Unrealistic goals and timelines.
The empowered individual looks at life as there is always enough for everyone; including time, education and other resources to go around. On the contrary the scarcity mindset looks at limited resources tends to have hoarding behaviors including material, information and food. They live from a sense of fear versus the abundance mindset person lives with gratitude.
So there is a fun little activity that I have given people that can help individuals develop more gratitude and an empowered abundance mindset.
So take a piece of paper and write down a typical days activities for example
I have to put in a load of wash
I have to pick up my son from basketball
I need to go to the grocery store
I have to drop off that meal at church
I need to pay the electric bill
Now I want you to change it to the following
I get to put in a load of wash
I get to pay that electric bill
I get to pick up my son from basketball
I get to go to the grocery store
I get to make and drop off that meal at church
Do you see how powerful our words can be in how we feel. This simple exercise can have profound effects. Have fun with this you can do this with your children, friend or someone else you know. It can have an amazing impact on our physical and mental health by having that empowered mindset!
“If you change the way you look at things; the things you look at change.” Wayne Dyer
