Yeah, it’s March. Up here in New England, pretty much everyone who hasn’t flown off to Florida is cranky about something – mostly because snow is still on the ground, it’s still cold, our power bills just went through the roof and….fill in the blank. We all kind of just kind of march through March.
But hey – it’s the Spring Equinox! Let’s shift our Mindset shall we? Here’s seven quick(ish) ways to do exactly that.
Affirmations
Any Louise Hay fans out there? Turns out those affirmations she was big on are actually VERY helpful in getting our day off the right way. Atomic Habits author James Clear suggests doing affirmations in the very first part of his book. Several times a week (I’m working towards daily but not there yet) I’ll sit down with my journal and write a short affirmative sentence 5-7 times. I do this along with 5-7 Gratitudes and a list of 8-12 Whacky Ideas:
Gratitudes
No matter what kind of day you believe you are having – good, bad, indifferent – there are gratitudes to be found. And no matter what challenge you are facing, it’s possible to employ gratitude to help usher you toward better outcomes. When we had to get our daughter to the hospital and spent five hours in the ER waiting for her to be seen for a mysterious throat abscess – let’s just say that I was pretty far away from a grateful frame of mind. But these situations are precisely the time to find that attitude of gratitude. I forced myself to focus on the patience of the staff in answering our panicked questions, the beautiful painting in the hallway, the ENT doctor with an upbeat attitude and a sense of humor. Once I could shift my mindset with a few gratitudes, I could focus better on the information the providers were communicating, and help the situation so much more than I could have in my original frantic state of mind.
New Whacky Ideas
It’s very easy for some of us to get stuck in a “same old same old” mindset. Same old job, same old neighborhood, same old….me. I feel tired just writing that sentence. But Claudia Azula Altucher has a quick way to get us out of that rut. Her book Become an Idea Machine suggests we create random lists of ideas for very random things – 10 ideas per day on…new blog titles, or electric car names or useful things to do with poetry. It’s random and it doesn’t really matter if you do them or not. What matters is exercising your creativity muscle. And you might surprise yourself and come up with something you might actually consider doing. And THAT could shake up your mindset!
Uncover Your Internal Judge and Saboteurs!
The entire point of the Positive Intelligence coaching model I apply in my practice is to shift our mindset from negative toward positive functioning. We do this by first characterizing our internal critic, (the Judge) and then uncovering our saboteurs. After doing some short, easy mindfulness practices to strengthen our Sage muscles and neutralizing the influence of our Judge and saboteurs, we now have what we need to shift our mindset into a more positive, productive place.
From Lack to Abundance
Inflation seems to be on everyone’s mind these days. The price of gas, eggs, bread…everything just keeps rising. The feeling this sparks in me and many clients is a foundational lack of control. All the more reason to focus on what we CAN control. First on that list? Yup, our mindset. How can you take care of yourself and your loved ones when prices appear to be heading for the stratosphere? I’ve re-acquainted myself with the wisdom of cooking for the week on the weekend. I’m getting into the prices per pound and purchasing local foods in season. It’s a small shift that requires more time and attention on my part, but knowing that I can choose to exert more control over this one area in my life is helping my mental mindset enormously. And my physical health too.
From Fixed to Growth
Maybe it’s the result of the speed at which our culture demands that we progress through life, or maybe we just can’t help ourselves as we get older. There appears to be a chronic plague of assumptions that we should only pursue activities and professions that align with the talents and skills we are “born with”. This is an attitude that defeats us even before we start to try and improve our situations, relationships and our world. Carol Dweck coined the term “Fixed vs. Growth Mindset” as a way to clarify these opposing world views. As fatigued as many of us feel this time of year, it may be difficult to intentionally transform our “fixed” notions of our own capabilities. For years, I regretted not learning a foreign language in my early years, which is, of course, the optimum time of life to learn language. But as I’m planning a trip to France next month, I truly want to learn at least enough conversational French to amuse the locals, if nothing else. I’ve downloaded both Pimsleur and Babbel to assist me, and guess what? I can’t watch as much Netflix in the evening as I use that time to practice, but I’m slowly dismantling my assumptions about my lingual learning capabilities. What new activity calls to you that requires you to learn something new? It’s the Spring Equinox. No better time in my opinion….
Listen to Your Body
This may be a tough one for many of us. Sometimes I feel as if my head is literally dragging my body around my day. Know the feeling? Here’s something simple that I’m experimenting with: Intentional connection with my physical wisdom. Again, in the Positive Intelligence (PQ) model, we do short physically connected meditation techniques called PQ reps. I’ve modeled some here in my Monday Mindset Minute. By closing my eyes, rubbing two fingers together with such awareness that I can feel the ridges on both fingers, I have put my physical experience front and center. I can then get curious about what my body is experiencing, and what it is aware of. The gift in this is an increased awareness of the truth of my daily experiences. If I suddenly feel exhausted at the though of taking on a piece of work that doesn’t align clearly with my goals, I now can pay better attention to what my body is telling me, rather than what my head wants me to do. Each time I pay attention to physical knowing, I tell my brain that it can take a back seat for awhile. And both brain and body start to feel a bit better.
Mindset is everything. And “spring cleaning” isn’t just about your space. Check out what Mindset Coaching might mean for you, and imagine how much lighter you’ll feel once you’ve found a way to clean out those mental cobwebs!