My secret list of Positive Mindset videos and books....
“At the end of the day, I am thankful that my blessings are bigger than my problems”
I truly hope that you had a very nice Thanksgiving, and were able to spend time with those you love and enjoy being with.
Thanksgiving is more than the festivities, it gives us time to ponder upon what lessons we have learned and how we can spread happiness around, to look back at all the great memories and good people who came into our lives.
Did you try the Pumpkin custard recipe from last week’s blog? As always, my daughter ate more than her fair share over the holidays, LOL ;-)
Today to finish up our short series on MINDSET, the #1 Essential in our (5) Essentials of Well-being, I’d like to share with you some of the tools I use year-round to keep myself in a positive mindset.
Feel free to bookmark this blog, or re-visit it on our website, as often as you like. I find myself enjoying at least one of these resources each month while sitting in the infrared sauna, or sharing them with friends and family as Mindset comes up in conversation.
Enjoy….
Inspiring Speeches and Videos
Below are several videos and speeches that I find myself coming back to over and over again, listening to them often, and sharing with others.
I hope you find them helpful as well. You might want to bookmark this blog so that it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle as your positive life keeps you enthusiastically moving forward!
Les Brown’s, Self-motivation: Les Brown's speech on mastering self-motivation. Start working at your dreams and whatever it is that you want to do in your life, because it's possible! Link Here.
Brendon Burchard’s, How to Reprogram your Mind (for Positive thinking). Link Here.
Carol Dweck’s TED Talk, The Power of Believing that you Can Improve! Link Here.
Shawn Achor’s TED Talk: The Happy Secret to Better Work! We believe we should work hard in order to be happy, but could we be thinking about things backwards? In this fast-moving and very funny talk, psychologist Shawn Achor argues that, actually, happiness inspires us to be more productive. Link Here.
Recommended Books
If you’re more of a fan of books than videos, never fear - here’s some good ones on developing a positive mindset:
Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment, by Martin E. P. Seligman (Amazon)
Attitude: Your Most Priceless Possession, by Elwood N. Chapman (Amazon)
The Happiness Advantage: How a Positive Brain Fuels Success in Work and Life, by Shawn Achor (Amazon)
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck (Amazon)
Getting Back to Happy: Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Reality and turn Your Trials into Triumphs, by March and Angel Chernoff (Amazon)
Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, by Martin E. P. Seligman (Amazon)
Mindset: How Positive Thinking Will Set You Free & Help You Achieve Massive Success in Life, by Benjamin Smith (Amazon)
Hard Optimism: How to Succeed in a World Where Positive Wins, by Price Pritchett (Amazon)
A Take-Home Message
If you’re still with me after this (5) part series on MINDSET, thanks for sticking with it! I hope you will find that the time invested in reading the blogs was worth the information you gleaned from it.
So, now you know what the big deal is about mindset and attitude!
It is a BIG deal, because what you believe about yourself, impacts your success or failure with relationships and your health.
Your beliefs and attitude play a pivotal role in what you want and whether you achieve it. It’s your mindset that plays the most important role in determining achievement and success in your health and overall life.
The one takeaway from this series that I really hope sticks with you is this: Positive thinking is a powerful tool that can result in a lot of benefits for you and those around you; especially when considering your health.
We all have a lot of different emotions and thoughts, and we each have such a wide variety, for a reason. Your childhood environment, your experiences, and the people with whom you hang around with play such an important role in your mindset and attitude.
If you’re an optimist by nature, you can cultivate gratitude for your inherent positivity, but make sure you don’t push aside the negative feelings that crop up. They’re part of life, too!
If you’re a pessimist by nature, don’t despair of never thinking positively. Try a few of the techniques that seem most applicable, and give yourself a break if it takes some time. Remember, the goal is not to become a “Pollyanna”, but to become the best version of yourself that you can be, and maintain a healthy and happy mental state.
Remember…..
All that we ARE, comes down to the STATE of MIND we choose to live in!
We must develop the habit of being conscious about our attitude and mindset.
If there's something you want that you don't know how to achieve, just remember to put one of life's most important words at the end of your sentence and say — “I don't now how…..YET.”
The most important factor regarding positivity in any health recovery is that it is authentic. False smiles and superficial cheerfulness will likely do nothing, but working on cultivating an authentically positive mindset and focusing on the activities and techniques that build well-being can have a significant impact on quality of life and chances of improving health and lifestyle.
Keep in mind, that your mindset is never fixed forever – it’s merely a collection of beliefs and thoughts that have somehow been joined by your childhood environment, your experiences, and the people you hang around with! You can change it if you want to!
Your awareness and integrity are linked to a better quality of life, and once we incorporate a growth mindset personally, we are then ready to enter into relationships with others. This is what can take you from the “okay life” to the “good life.”
As I’ve said before — I don’t claim that just “thinking happy thoughts” will bring you all the success you desire in life, and we certainly don’t believe that optimism is warranted in every situation, every minute of the day.
Developing the right thoughts is not about being constantly happy or cheerful, and it’s not about ignoring anything negative or unpleasant in your life. It’s about incorporating both the positive and negative into your perspective and choosing to still be generally optimistic.
It’s about acknowledging that you will not always be happy and learning to accept bad moods and difficult emotions when they come.
Above all, it’s about increasing your control over your own attitude in the face of whatever comes your way. You cannot always control the thoughts that pop into your head, but you can choose how you handle them.
When you choose to give in to the negativity, pessimism, and doom-and-gloom view of the world, you are not only submitting to a loss of control and potentially wallowing in unhappiness — you are missing out on an important opportunity for growth and development.
Our mindsets exist on a continuous cycle from fixed to growth, and although we’d like to always have a growth mindset, the reality is that we can only be on a journey to a growth mindset. The goal is to recognize fixed mindset elements in ourselves and then reflect on feedback and strategies for how to improve.
If you missed any of our previous blogs on Mindset, feel free to browse them while you rest over the holidays….
What’s the deal, why is Mindset so important? including the self-quiz… Read it Here.
What type of Mindset do you have? and a song for you… Read it Here.
The Power of “Not Yet”…. Read it Here.
A Positive Mindset is Especially important in your Relationships!… Read it Here.
THE most important thing in life, is how you feel about YOURSELF!!!!
Please know that I appreciate you being part of our wellness family, and accepting your true natural in-born health and wellness. I consider you very much a part of my extended family!