Breaking old mindsets allows for more dynamic creative energy to flow in our lives. And that creative energy expands our consciousness and improves the quality of our living.
Unfortunately, Some among us are missing opportunities to manifest our dreams because we are stuck in our patterns of being and living. Therefore, transforming our mindset is essential. But what is mindset?
What is Mindset?
Mindset is our set of attitudes, approaches, philosophy, and outlook on life. We can have a productive, growth mindset or we can have a non-productive, fixed mindset. Our mindset has a huge impact on our creativity, well-being, and how we view our life and the world around us.
Our mindset can shape and shift our reality, for better or for worse. When we are stuck in a negative (non-productive, fixed) mindset, it can be difficult to be creative and find joy, meaning, and purpose in our lives.
Furthermore, with a mindset that limits our ability to see our greatest potential, we will find it challenging to tune into our own personal power–mentally or spiritually.
On the other hand, when we have a positive (productive, growth) mindset, we are more open to new ideas and possibilities. We are more creative and productive, and we appreciate life to the fullest. We can also tune into our personal power spiritually and mentally to create the life we want to live.
The Benefits of Breaking Old Mindsets for Artists, Creatives, Writers, and Makers
Breaking old mindsets can help artists, creatives, writers, and makers awaken the sleeping genius within. When we become aware of our limiting core beliefs, we can then take steps to begin to challenge and overcome them.
We can start to focus on what we can do, rather than what we can’t because we are open to new experiences, new ideas, and taking educated risks. In this state of openness and conscientiousness, we can easily achieve Flow State and thrive in our creative power.
Moreover, since our mindset affects how we see the world, it can serve as a powerful tool used to shape our lives in a positive way. By shining the light on limiting beliefs and taking the necessary steps to challenge them, we can awaken the sleeping genius within and enjoy a fulfilling, rich, and happy life.
A Tragedy Can Change The Way We Approach Life
March 17, 2022, At the Art Bar Around 6:30 pm
“A stroke at 43?” I asked
“Yes, a stroke and he was a year younger than my husband,” my friend shook her head and sipped her mocktail.
“That’s crazy. So many in our community are dying from strokes and aneurysms. What’s going on?”
“Stress. Stress is going on,” she stated emphatically. “I told my husband, now you see what I’m talking about. Carm, we have spent most of our marriage working and saving and looking after our children. We go to see family but we haven’t taken a family vacation since the children were very small. And we haven’t had a couples vacation since our honeymoon.”
My friend and her husband had been married for 17 years. I listened to her as she described their life.
“And I know he’s right of course we should save for retirement. We’re doing that but I don’t want to wait until I’m almost 70 years old to travel and see the world. We may be too damn tired to enjoy it.”
“I understand what you’re saying and I understand where he’s coming from–” Knowing where I was going with our exchange, my friend chimed in before I could finish.
“It’s how he grew up, hell how we both grew up. His mother struggled to care for him and his brother after his father left. And even before his Dad left, they were struggling to “make ends meet,” she said holding up air quotes.
“With my family, we weren’t struggling but there were times my parents were broke,” she continued. And now that I am older I can see where sometimes it was about priorities and mismanaging money. Trust me, I don’t want to do that either.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about “money” stories a lot lately. Our money story begins in our childhood. What we see and what we are shown about money affects how we relate to money. If it seems hard to keep and hard to get we save, save, and save. We are afraid to spend beyond what we think our necessities are,” I said.
“But,” I continued. “It’s all interpretation. You can have two children in the house together but they interpreted their environment and upbringing very differently. And from the same household, you have two different mindsets about money.”
“True, because his brother is nothing like him. But since his friend passed my husband’s changed his tune a lot. He looked at me the other day and said “Bae, tomorrow is not promised.” We plan to do more traveling once this new covid strand gets under control.”
We talked more and sip our mocktails as we watched other patrons in the bar sip their green-colored drinks.
Oh, yeah, it’s Saint Patrick’s Day, I thought.
Mindset: Are Our Attitudes About Life Collected Over Time?
Again, mindset is our set of attitudes, approaches, philosophy, and outlook on life. Mindset determines how we see and interpret the world around us and how we believe we should respond to life.
And since our set of attitudes, approaches, philosophy, and outlook in life affects how we think and feel, they also affect how we make decisions.
Our mindset is the way we view and respond to the world and our life experiences. We have developed our mindset over time. Meaning, we didn’t just wake up one day feeling, thinking, and believing the way we do.
We develop our mindset through a variety of influences, including our parents, our education, our environment, friendships, and our own experiences.
As children, our parents are usually a major influence in the formation of our mindset. Parents demonstrate behaviors that teach us how they think and feel about relationships, money, work, gender, and more.
Parents demonstrate to their children how to respond to certain situations. But most important is how we as children interpreted those behaviors and responses. Our interpretation molded and shaped our mindsets. That’s why the “do as I say, not as I do” approach to parenting never works.
As we grow older, our education and environment, including our peers, family, and community, play a major role in shaping our mindset. We learn information, facts, and theories that help us to form our own opinions and beliefs.
The people we surround ourselves with can have a productive or nonproductive influence on our attitude, approaches, responses, and philosophy of life.
Additionally, as we mature our own experiences also affect our mindset. As we go through life, we have the opportunity to learn from our successes and mistakes. We can use those experiences to shape our thinking and behavior and to help us develop a positive and productive mindset.
Breaking Old Mindsets Also Means Breaking Limiting Core Beliefs That No Longer Serve Us
Consequently, it’s not a tragedy itself that changes our mindset. Our mindset changes after a tragedy because tragedies challenge our core beliefs. And yet, a challenged belief is not enough. We have to change limiting core beliefs and break old habits to see and feel the impact in our lives.
Breaking limiting core beliefs that no longer serve us is an essential part of personal development and transforming from a fixed, non-productive mindset to a productive and growth mindset.
It is difficult to grow, evolve, and become the person we desire to be when we are stuck in old stagnant beliefs and attitudes that prevent us from living as the best version of ourselves.
We may be unaware of these beliefs, but they are deeply rooted in our minds and can be difficult to recognize and let go of.
Breaking Old Mindsets is Key to “Doing the Work.”
For this very reason, Blue Lotus Living as a framework emphasizes “do the work.” No matter how much we may desire to change our attitudes and outlook on life, we won’t change our mindset until we identify those core beliefs that affect the way we relate and respond to various domains of life such as:
- Health and Wellness
- Love and Relationships
- Wealth and Success
- Work and Service
- Wisdom and Scholarship
Just to name a few.
Moreover, what we will discover as we begin breaking old mindsets is we have the time to reflect on our beliefs. We can reflect on our beliefs in various domains of life. This reflection is a powerful way to gain insight into our thought patterns, build self-awareness, and start to make productive and life-affirming changes.
When we can identify the limiting and non-productive beliefs and attitudes holding us back, we can challenge them and create a new, empowering mindset. The process can be difficult and requires courage and commitment, but this work creates lasting change and promotes well-being.
By replacing old, outdated beliefs with new, healthier ones, we can open ourselves up to new possibilities and experiences which align with our authentic self.
Breaking through our limiting beliefs and old, stagnant mindsets can be incredibly liberating. We can become more confident, motivated, and creative because we are no longer held back.
Identifying and breaking through our non-productive attitudes and philosophies about life and how we want to live it can be a powerful way to move forward and create a life that we truly want to live.
Developing a Productive Mindset
As we start breaking old mindsets, we discover the ebb and flow of life are about producing, creating, and transforming.
Having a productive mindset can help us “produce” the things we want and that amplifies our ability to better manage our internal and external responses to life.
With a productive mindset, we are more open to the ebb and flow of life. We have a more flexible approach when dealing with difficult situations. Such a set of attitudes helps us build self-efficacy, live intentionally, and have greater self-confidence and resilience.
Yes, we are purposeful in our daily activities, allowing us to make better sustainable life decisions.
Furthermore, it can help us to have a more positive outlook on life and to better manage our internal and external responses to life. A productive mindset adopts a life philosophy that edifies our gifts and talents as we remain motivated and focused on our goals.
Transforming our mindset is critical to putting the life back into our living. And when we put the life back into our living, we live empowered fulfilled lives.
A Productive and Growth Mindset Is Synonymous With Intentional Living and Crucial to Intentional Life Design
When we think about productive and growth mindsets many among us believe it is about getting more shit done or how many things you can check off your to-do list. Instead, it’s about living with intention, slowing down, and becoming more attuned to how we want to live.
Chasing the next thing isn’t productive. Chasing the next thing isn’t personal or self-growth.
When we move towards authenticity, we discover a productive and growth mindset is at the essence of intentional living and is an integral part of living on purpose while putting the life back into our living.
Accordingly, we take a step back and consider our goals and values, and the vision we have for our lives. We become more mindful and conscious of our actions and decisions, and how they will affect our future.
It also means recognizing our strengths and weaknesses and living to be the best version of ourselves.
By having a productive and growth mindset, we can create an intentional lifestyle that is tailored to our individual needs. We can focus on developing our unique passions and skills, and on creating meaningful experiences.
We can also take the time to reflect on our choices and decisions and to think about how we can be more productive and successful in reaching our goals.
How to Develop the Discipline and Dedication to “Do The Work” For Breaking Old Mindsets
Living with intention requires discipline and dedication, but it can be immensely rewarding. It is an ongoing process, but by having a productive and growth mindset, we can work towards creating a meaningful and fulfilling life.
As we develop this vision, we will discover we will have to continue to break old mindsets that don’t serve us. Developing discipline and dedication to “do the work” that transforms our mindsets is an ongoing process that requires a growth mindset and a vision for our lives.
We can gain and maintain this kind of discipline and dedication by:
- Keeping an open mind
- Giving words and context to our wildest dreams
- Exploring our gifts and talents
- Developing a vision for our lives
- Setting achievable goals according to that vision
- Breaking down goals and objectives into manageable, actionable steps
- Creating an execution plan according to those steps
- Identifying milestones and mental landmarks
- Restoring and managing the body-mind-spirit connection to keep you focused, motivated, and energized.
- Creating a schedule that allows for both work and play can make a big difference in your ability to stay disciplined.
- Reviewing and adjusting your schedule regularly.
- Journaling and maintaining notes and documentation on successes and losses.
- Remembering to always reward, incentivize, and celebrate your milestones.
It is also important to keep our peace and well-being in mind. Determination and discipline build just as our mindset transforms.
In the beginning, we may not have the willpower to dedicate ourselves to transforming our mindset.
But if we keep the dream in front of us through tools such as vision boards, affirmations, and journaling about our dreams in a stream of consciousness, establishing creative empowerment partnerships, and building a community of like-minded folks, it won’t require willpower.
Your focus and commitment to self-growth and personal development will be more than enough.
Therefore, we are looking at a process, not a quick fix. And in that process, you will discover the path to happiness, peace, and fulfillment.