Hello Reader
Welcome back to the (mildly revamped) Everyday Mentor newsletter!
I'm truly grateful for the opportunity to write to you each week.
My hope is that together we can build a community of like-minded people who understand the vital nature of pursuing a healthy soul, as the foundation for all of life.
"Three Mindsets Sabotaging Your Soul"
Many years ago I came across a book titled "Battlefield of the Mind"
Something about that unique phrasing stayed with me, and sets an accurate backdrop for my ideas here today.
Our mind truly is like a battlefield at times. Daily we are waging a war against 'foreign invaders' seeking our destruction, and we are perpetually trying to coordinate the soldiers of our resources to fight for some sense of progress.
It really is a war!
We have to contend with the memory of past negative experiences, damaging words spoken to us, self-talk running wild, and all manner of assault on our belief system. It's alot!
Trying to win the war in our mind can be exhausting! However, it's crucial that we do understand the weapons available to us, and that we do win.
It's an essential war to engage with, as so much of what happens in our journey of life, and the success we enjoy, is linked to winning the battle in our mind.
Our thoughts are like little seeds, that sprout green shoots called words, and our words are a creative force without a self-regulating moral compass.
Another way of saying this is that our words will create our reality whether we speak positive life giving words, or the opposite of these.
Therefore, the war must be won at the start of the process . . . In our thoughts and in our mindset. If we can fix the seeds we are sowing, much of the rest will take care of itself.
You are not alone in this. I am also waging this war on the daily, and I plan on winning!
Here are 3 mindsets to watch out for that could be sabotaging your soul;
- I can't because I haven't - This is a limiting belief that implies the fact that you haven't attempted something yet, means you won't be able to achieve it. This is simply not true. There are hundreds of things you can do, that you haven't done yet. We need to break this mindset and say to ourself "I probably can do it. I just need to try"
- Things always go wrong for me - Even if you are walking through a tough stage in life where the factual evidence around you seems to confirm this conclusion, you still need to rid yourself of it. Choosing to say "things always work out for me" might be a stretch too far for you right now. Instead, say this "I always get through my challenges, and I'll get through this too" You see, what we think and say, sets the agenda of our expectation, and attracts to us the very thing we focus on. Change the thought > the words > the expectation > and the outcome.
- Enjoyment Deferment - This is the practice of constantly NEEDING to have something exciting to look forward to, in order to cope with the mundanity of the present. Note I said 'needing' not 'wanting' There is nothing wrong with 'wanting' good things in our future, but we can become obsessed with 'needing' those things in order to survive another day. This is out of balance and unhealthy. I have struggled at times in my own life with this one. If you're a goal-oriented, forward thinking type person, you may find this one challenging also. In this mode we need recalibration to recognise the enjoyment we have in the now, lest we wish our whole life away, because tomorrow never comes.
I have discovered through trial and error that the single most effective weapon (for me at least) in the battlefield of the mind, is strategic replacement.
In other words, I have learned to identify destructive mindset patterns by diagnosing the origin and nature of various thoughts existing in my head, and then methodically and strategically replacing them with positive and deliberate thoughts & self-talk statements.
Our brains are designed in such a way that they have a built-in capacity for relentless looping. They play the same 'track' on forever repeat, regardless of the nature of that content.
Therefore deleting negative mindsets alone is not effective enough, as our brains simply return to the most recently available data set.
We need deletion AND replacement!
We may even benefit from engineering our own little catch phrases and maxims to deliberately insert at the start of our day. These can be uniquely crafted based on understanding the kind of battle we are likely to encounter throughout our day.
For example, I have a little prompt that I've been utilising in recent weeks.
I have nicknamed it PGF
It stands for Peace, Gratitude & Forgiveness.
I try to deliberately insert it into my thinking at the start of my day to set the agenda for how I want to win the battle in my mind.
It represents some useful triggering thoughts when I repeat it to myself several times.
Peace - I can choose not to get involved with other people's irritations
Gratitude - I have many things to be thankful for already
Forgiveness - As often as possible releasing everyone who may have wronged me. Life is heavy enough without carrying other people around in my heart and mind that shouldn't be there.
Perhaps you could engineer your own cognitive weapons based on how you need to be prepared each day??
I would love to hear your story about this subject. Reply to this email if you would like to connect more . . .
I would love to help you.
Please reach out any time by replying to this email.
Best Regards Always!
Andrew
Enjoy reading EVERYDAY MENTOR? Click below to share with friends!
Ensure my emails hit your inbox every time:
- Gmail Users: Add these messages to your ‘Primary’ inbox.
- Apple Mail Users: Add my email address to your “Contacts" or "VIPs”
- Outlook Users: Add my email address to your “Safe Senders” list
