Our Mindset is a very powerful tool for Personal Growth and it’s influencing our Happiness. It is a Choice, we are responsible for our Happiness. One way to increase Happiness is to control our mindset. We can get better at failing, adopt a growth mindset and rewire our brain. When we are aware of the time paradox and learn to let go, we are much more likely to live a happier life. In this blog post, I share my favourite mindset tools that I came across when reading my top 10 Happiness books. I have quoted the Authors which you can find between the quotation marks!
Rewire your brain
The book Hardwiring Happiness shares that we can reshape our brain so we experience increased happiness. For a lasting effect of positive emotions, we should savour the good and enjoy the simple things. We should try to find the good in the bad and reframe the situation positively. We should be kind to ourselves and ensure that when we experience a happy moment that we Enrich it and Absorb it. 2 key elements of Rick’s HEAL Framework. “Focus on Noticing the Good!”
Failing better
How do you feel after you have failed? Often we feel deflated and keep ourselves in a negative spiral. 101 Happiness shares that we should focus on failing better. We need to learn that failing is part of life and that important lessons are learnt during this time. Tim Bono shares a few tips on how to fail better. For example, we need to rethink our expectations. Our Expectations are often so high that we set the bar real high for ourselves. Can we lower our expectations and still feel a sense of achievement? Find the good in failing and work toward Authentic Self-esteem where you accept the things that go wrong. “Know how to rebound when we encounter adversity.”
Adopt a Growth Mindset
Many books mention the research Carol S. Dweck has conducted. She highlights that we either have a Growth Mindset or a Fixed mindset. When we have a Growth mindset we are open to challenges, we persist and learn from criticism. “We cultivate through our efforts.” While when we have a fixed mindset we think that our character and intelligence are given and cannot be changed. “We are constantly trying to prove ourselves.” The power of Yet allows us to increase our happiness as we have that positive outlook and learn from our failures. “The way you view yourself, the view that a person’s true potential is unknown” is the mindset we should adopt as this will truly improve our happiness levels.
Learn To Let Go
Cass Dunn highlights the importance of letting go in her book Crappy to Happy. We are often too focused on the things that are out of our control and we need to learn to accept what we can’t change. I know, I know, easier said than done, right? However, being able to put our attention on what we can change, will have a big impact on our happiness levels. Cass shares that we should identify the areas in our life where acceptance is a struggle. That we should loosen up our control and ensure to feel emotions. Suffering is part of life and we should focus on how to deal with the challenge instead of what is uncontrollable. Control your mindset so you can let go!
The Time Paradox
How do you experience your last week at work? You have given your notice and realise that this chapter will close soon. You probably make sure to visit your favourite lunch spots and take more time to talk to colleagues. You’d savour each moment and you show more gratitude. Tim Bono from the book 101 happiness explains “Time constraints on an experience can motivate us to check off more items on our bucket list and get more out of them as we do. We appreciate things more deeply when we are reminded they will not last forever.” Basically, we think having more time is better however having less time serves us better, deadlines improve our productivity and limited time allows us to savour an experience more. So control your mindset by acknowledging that everything will come to end such as that road trip, the sunset or summer.
So now you are aware of some strategies to control your mindset so we can tackle the misconceptions about Happiness. Adopting this mindset is not easy and will require a great deal of effort but you know it will be worth it. You have much higher chances of success if you have an action plan drawn out. What is it you truly want to focus on? Head over to my Resource Library so you can create your action plan for a happier life.
Happiness Depends On Your Mindset And Attitude.
Rory T. Bennet
