Cultivating healthy mindset habits is crucial because they empower you. Your life isn’t just about external factors and what happens to you. A lot of life is how you respond.
Your mindset actually shapes your experiences because it impacts your perception of life. Your mindset also influences your thoughts, your emotions, and your reactions.
So many people have overcome so many things and most of the time it just comes down to their mindset. There’s a reason why the quote “Believe you can and you’re halfway there” is still so popular. Along with about a hundred other quotes about achieving what you put your mind to.
These are not quick fixes, but essential healthy mindset habits to hone over time. Your mindset wasn’t created in a single day, and it’ll take more than a few days to shift it.
But it is absolutely possible to take your unhealthy mindset habits and transform them into healthy ones.
Positive Self-Talk
Your mind will believe your internal environment over your external environment, which is why self-talk is so important. Outer success means very little when you’re still telling yourself what a failure you are in your head.
How do you talk to yourself? We all talk to ourselves inside of our heads. Unfortunately, many of us bully ourselves inside of our heads. You make a small mistake and you tell yourself that you’re stupid, only causing yourself to feel worse.
Stop beating yourself up. Stop focusing on all the negative and things that have gone wrong. Stop replaying your worst moments over and over in your head.
Your brain cannot tell the difference between you dwelling on your memories and you actually experiencing something – it releases the same stress chemicals for both.
But you can use this to your advantage.
Rehearse things going well instead! Express gratitude for what you already have and you can start to rewire your brain through neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity is your brain’s ability to change and reorganize itself. Your brain can actually form new connections between neurons and alter existing ones. Your incredible brain is pretty incredible.
It can be challenging, but you can work towards consciously adjusting your inner dialog. Over time, you can replace self-criticism with self-compassion.
Gratitude
No one likes an ungrateful attitude. Not even the ungrateful person themselves! A quote from Zig Ziglar says: “You will never see a happy ungrateful person” and that is absolutely true. The opposite is also true – people who are grateful are happier.
There is always something to be thankful for. Practice giving thanks for all that you have. The more you give gratitude for the good things in your life, the happier you will be.
If you’re having trouble getting started, here are some things you can be grateful for:
- The beauty of nature – from the clouds and trees to the birds and bees.
- Access to the internet – so much information at your fingertips.
- Having your basic needs met – enough food, enough water and a safe home.
- Education – a right denied to many around the world.
- Your health – just waking up today wasn’t guaranteed.
Of course writing one gratitude list isn’t going to instantly change your life. However, practicing gratitude will gradually improve your wellbeing, and actually change your brain, over time.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is simply being present in the present moment. Something that sounds so simple but is actually incredibly difficult to do. It can be almost impossible to truly “clear” your mind.
Our minds wander unintentionally all the time. Sometimes chronically. When you’re unhappy, your thoughts tend to trend towards the past. When you’re happy, your mind often considers the future.
So how can you actually be mindful? It takes practice. Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it does make progress.
Cultivating a mindfulness practice is one of the best healthy mindset habits because of all of the benefits it can provide.
Mindfulness has been associated with so many different health benefits. From lower blood pressure to improved attention span. It can also be a helpful way to release stress from your body and create a sense of inner calm.
Of course sitting down to meditate once isn’t going to instantly transform your life. It requires both patience and persistence for those long-term benefits to take effect.
Please note that you may never be able to completely “clear” your mind. That isn’t the goal though. The goal is to bring yourself back to the moment when you feel your mind wandering away.
Growth Mindset
The concept of a growth mindset was introduced in just 2006 by psychologist Carol Dweck. Dweck completed a lot of research focusing on understanding how people’s beliefs about themselves impact their personal development.
A growth mindset is characterized by the belief that you can enhance your abilities and intelligence through effort. When you have a growth mindset you tend to see challenges as opportunities for growth and learning. You want to continue learning and developing new skills.
The opposite of a growth mindset is a fixed mindset. A person with a fixed mindset believes that their intelligence and abilities are set and they can do nothing to change them.
While that is not true, believing that you can’t grow will negatively impact your growth. If you believe that you can grow and change that will positively impact your growth. I think it’s obvious which sort of mindset habit is better for personal growth.
Having a growth mindset is so important to you growth that I actually wrote an entire post about how to shift your mindset.
Setting Boundaries
Setting boundaries may not have been one of the healthy mindset habits you were expecting, but boundaries absolutely contribute to a healthy mindset.
Setting boundaries isn’t a mean thing thing to do at all. It’s simply establishing guidelines about what is and isn’t an acceptable way to treat you.
Boundaries are put in place to protect your own wellbeing and peace. They are a demonstration of self-respect and knowing your worth. Boundaries create a solid foundation for healthy self-esteem and reinforce that your feelings and emotions do matter.
Setting boundaries isn’t enough alone though, you have to enforce them. Enforcing your boundaries shouldn’t cause strife in your relationships, it should foster mutual respect.
If someone doesn’t respect boundaries you are trying to set in place, they may not respect you.
Clearly communicated healthy boundaries contribute to honest communication and ultimately more fulfilling relationships.
Examples
What do boundaries look like? Well, boundaries are personal and can vary for each individual. A few examples include:
Setting a boundary around your work hours – You let others know you don’t check e-mail at home and then you don’t check your e-mail at home.
Setting a boundary around your money – You set limits on the amount of money you lend and are very clear about it. You don’t make exceptions.
Setting a boundary in your relationship – You are clear about acceptable behavior, trust and fidelity. You stand by those boundaries and end the relationship when they are crossed.
Self-Reflection
Taking a look back at your past experiences allows you to gain a deeper understanding of yourself. Sometimes it’s only in reflection that we get a clear view of our emotions, strengths and weaknesses.
By self-reflecting frequently, we grow our sense of self-awareness and grow our emotional intelligence. Reflecting on past situations can also help you identify sources of both stress and of joy. It also allows you a clearer look at your actions and behaviors, encouraging accountability.
Self-reflection can take several different forms, one of the most beneficial being journaling. Besides journaling, you can also make it a part of your mindfulness practice to reflect on your day.
Like all of these healthy mindset habits, self-reflection is an ongoing practice that requires patience. It also requires self-compassion. Instead of beating yourself up for the things you’ve already done, take responsibility for them and make better decisions in the future.
Optimism
Optimism views the world and its issues through a lens of hope and maintains a positive attitude despite challenges. Having optimism doesn’t mean ignoring problems, it just means having a more positive perspective on them. It’s looking for the silver linings around those dark clouds.
Being optimistic means that you have a positive outlook on life. You believe that things generally work out for the best, even during difficult times.
People who are optimistic tend to have better resilience in negative situations and are able to bounce back from them more effectively.
Optimism helps promote a positive mental attitude, which can have a big impact on your overall wellbeing. People who are optimistic tend to experience lower levels of stress and anxiety from their positive outlook.
Even if you have a naturally negative outlook on life, you can help shift to a more optimistic one. When you have those negative thoughts, reframe them in a more positive light.
You will probably need to reframe negative thoughts much more than once, because you’ve thought them so many more times than just once. Forgive yourself for thinking those same thoughts and just continue to try to see them in a better light.
You can also choose to surround yourself with more positive influences. Engage with more positive people and content to promote your own positivity.
Some studies show that being optimistic and looking on the bright side may even help you live longer. If that’s not a good enough reason to look on the bright side, I don’t know what is.
Those are all 7 of the best healthy mindset habits you can implement into your life starting today! Remember, maintaining healthy mindset habits is a journey that requires dedication and time.
You absolutely can change your unhealthy mindset into a healthier one – you can do anything you put your mind to. It just takes a bit of consistency.
These changes won’t happen overnight. Just as your current mindset was developed over a period of time, shifting to a healthier mindset also requires consistent effort and practice.
If you stay consistent with these habits, you will notice the positive impact they have over time.
Just trust in the process and remember that progress is not always linear. Just because you experience setbacks doesn’t mean that you have to quit or give up.
Keep going. You owe it to yourself.
Which of these healthy mindset habits are you going to start working on today? I’d love to hear which ones resonated with you the most!
Let me know in a comment below and start building those habits today.
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