We have all heard the saying “mind over matter” and I’m sure we are all familiar with Rene Descartes’ famous words, I think therefore I am. Over the course of our lives we develop, or create a mindset, a dominant paradigm and transforming it is a multi-faceted approach. So, today, I have some unique tips to help you change your perspective and transform your mindset that you may not have considered applying to mindset transformation before.
You can use these in addition to many of the other things you may be doing to help accelerate the process and freshen your perspective. These tips I am discussing today are:
- Move your body
- Rewrite your script.
- Connect with nature.
- Express your creativity.
I started learning about mindset about seven years ago, at least ways to shift it to help my weight loss efforts and improve my body image. Like any change, transforming your mindset takes time, discipline, and consistency. There’s a reason they say old habits die hard, and that is because they do. Seven years in and I now understand that this is a lifelong effort. If it took me 37 years to lock in a certain paradigm, I figure it could easily take just as long to lock in a new one. I’ve realized that this is because you aren’t just creating a new paradigm or mindset; you are also undoing the existing one, which also involves a lot of inner work to root out the origins. And, as you are doing all this, you are also changing your behaviors and routines; so, needless to say it is a lot of work.
A lot of the methods, research, literature, and guidance around this includes focusing on changing the thought patterns. This involves things like affirmations and positive self-talk. This is absolutely powerful and helpful, but there are some other things you can do that help reinforce these efforts while also changing your perspective in different ways. So, let’s jump in.
- Move your body.
This likely isn’t the first thing that you’d think of when looking to transform your mindset, but it is such a key component to it. They say fitness or weight loss is 20% exercise, 80% nutrition, and 100% mindset and this is so accurate. However, I invite you to look at it a little differently and consider how exercise can shift your mindset. For example, have you ever been really upset about something and then go take a walk or maybe deep clean your house, and you suddenly feel better about it? There’s something about physical movement that helps change our perspective and clear our minds. I believe it is because it helps us move the energy of the emotions out of our body; it’s a form of release.
Include forms of physical movement in your daily routine to help you shift your perspective, and, by extension, your mindset. This can be walking, dancing, stretching, whatever feels good and helps you get clarity and a fresh perspective. - Rewrite your script.
Part of changing your mindset is changing your thoughts and beliefs, as in rewriting them. An important first step in this is to identify the current paradigm and limiting beliefs. What are your beliefs? What do you believe to be true for you? For example, do you say things to yourself like “I’ll never get ahead,” or “I cannot lose weight no matter what I do.” What other evidence do you have of your dominant thought paradigm? Take a look around at your job, bank account, body image, etc. They are all showing you what your perceptions are about various aspects of your life.
Start listing as many as you can think of. You can do this by topic, for example a money story list, a weight story list, a relationships list, etc. Write down all the stories and all the beliefs, or things you say to yourself that relate to each area. Once you have that, rewrite them. Ask yourself, what feels better than this belief? What do you want to be true for you? Write that list down for each of these. Burn or destroy the other lists and start reading your new list each day. - Connect with nature.
Getting out in nature is another great way to change perspective on things. Take a walk outside. Go take a drive somewhere new or where there is more nature. Spend a day at the river, lake, or beach. Plan a camping trip. Go to a wildlife preserve or petting zoo to connect with animals. Whatever it is, find ways to spend more time in nature. It is a great reminder that there is a huge, beautiful world full of miracles out there and it can help make that problem that seems so huge, seem much smaller. - Express your creativity.
Last but certainly not least is to express your creativity. Explore what your creative outlets are and do more of those. You don’t have to be Picasso for this. You can find lots of fun tutorials on You Tube for various easy art and craft projects. Maybe you prefer interior decorating, find ways to change up your home decor. Cooking and baking are other great outlets for creative expression. Try not to overthink and just try different things and see what you like. Find what takes your mind off things and allows you to lose track of time.
Alright, those are four unique tips you can use to help with your mindset transformation. I hope this gives you some ideas for other things to integrate with what you may already be doing! As always, thanks for stopping by!