Acknowledging how important your mindset is for your health and wellness and how to fix negative Mindset Mistakes.
Are you never fully reaching goals, leaving your mental and physical health to suffer? Often, your mindset and beliefs can be sabotaging those goals without you consciously knowing. By highlighting and recognising these sabotaging mindset mistakes, you can create a healthy mindset to support your wellbeing.
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We all know the toll that a poor mindset can have on the way you feel about yourself and the actions you take. Although, not knowing these mindset mistakes are holding you back, can be even more detrimental.
Without understanding what is going on in your mind, you will not be able to overcome a negative mindset. Resulting in repeats of the same sabotaging behaviours and not reaching your full potential.
If you are struggling to recognise your own thoughts, limiting beliefs and behaviours, you can use our personal growth journal prompts. These are 50 questions to help you dive deep into your identity and invest in your self-development.
We at Mind Medicine know how important your mindset is for your health and wellness to thrive. Sign up below to get your download!
Here are the top 3 mindset mistakes you are making right now.
1. The Stories You Tell Yourself
We have a constant stream of consciousness. This is our conscious mind thinking, processing and almost talking to ourselves.
Do you find you tell stories to yourself?
What do these stories say about you and the world around you?
These thoughts are usually very decisive and do not often change. Oftenften starting with:
- ‘I never…’
- ‘I always…’
- ‘I’m not the kind of person that…’
- ‘People are always…’.
These stories we tell ourselves can be completely fictional and fantasy. Or they can be informed by the past and what you have previously experienced. However, they tend to be extremely general narratives and only from one perspective.
These stories can contribute to your happiness, health, relationships, career, habits, anger, etc. The list goes on…
A negative story and perspective can therefore, negatively impact all areas of your life. Whereas a positive story and support and positively impact all areas of your life.
Additionally, a negative story can develop into a limiting belief. Where you strongly believe your negative story to be true and solid, unbreakable. This can taint every experience you have and sabotage you from taking the leaps to improve your life and wellness.
These stories and beliefs also contribute to your identity.
Our unconscious brain distorts, filters and generalises information according to our beliefs. This allows the unconscious to validate your negative stories by applying the perspective to your experiences.
For example, the story of, ‘I’m not a morning person’ can result in you pushing the snooze button and feeling tired and reluctant to get out of bed. Even trying to wake up early can be extremely difficult because you’re not a ‘morning person’.
Due to the way our brains work, the stories we tell ourself become self-prophesizing. As you identify and prove yourself right, your stories feel more true.
The problem is that these beliefs can be out of alignment to your future self. Sabotaging you from reaching your goals and welcoming positive change. And negatively impacting your happiness and health.
How can you Overcome this Mindset Mistake?
Firstly becoming aware of the repeated stories is important. Awareness of your personal narratives allows you to notice how they impact your life.
The moments you take to acknowledge the thought gives you time to distance yourself from it.
When you hear those limiting stories, STOP. Question the thought:
- Where did it come from?
- How does it make you feel?
- How does it impact my relationships?
- Does it change the way I see and react to others?
- Has it stopped you in the past from achieving optimal health?
- How can you flip it to be an empowering, positive story?
When you take the time to evaluate your stories, you expose it. Separating it from yourself, acknowledging it and challenging its truth. You no longer need to act on your story but can be aware of it.
By doing this, the belief loses its solidity and becomes flexible and changeable. Therefore, you can completely change the belief you hold about yourself and others.
Changing the story and belief, you will be able to see new truths about yourself. Revealing that actually, you can. Establishing positive stories to encourage a positive mindset for wellness and overcoming your sabotaging mindset mistake.
2. Not Having a Clear Vision
Do you feel like you don’t know where you are going?
Or that you don’t know the steps to reach your optimal health and wellness?
Or you’re too scared of taking of action because you do not know the result or think the worst?
Not having a clear vision of your future is a massive mindset mistake you are making.
Lacking clarity and direction can lead to fear, anxiety and worry about the future. Feeling completely out of control of your life. As a result, you are not mentally, emotionally and physically prepared to take the leap to the next level of your life and health.
The fear it creates is also contributed by the negative stories and limiting beliefs you hold. Rather than being the creator of your own life, fear can become the decider.
Although, lacking a clear vision may not create fear. Instead, lack of clarity can be an enabler of inaction and misdirection. Usually, letting other’s actions decide your life for you. Leading to feelings of emptiness or unfulfillment.
Fear, anxiety, unfulfillment or emptiness are feelings that sabotage your health and wellness. Life can feel as though you are not in control and totally lost.
This can make everyday difficult. Impacting your happiness negatively and making your health much less of priority.
How can you fix this Mindset Mistake?
It’s probably obvious… Creating a clear vision can help you overcome this mindset mistake. Transforming your mindset for health and happiness.
A vision of your future provides you with clarity, direction and motivation. To make the moves that will change your lfie and the person you are now.
But, how can you create a clear vision?
We recommend you start with some self-discovery. Ask yourself questions such as:
- Where do I feel the happiest? What am I doing in those times?
- What experiences have I had that have made me the person I am a today?
- List the things I love doing and one I have always wanted to do.
- What type of people do I en enjoy being around? What they contribute to my life?
You can also take advantage of Mind Medicine’s Free 50 personal growth journal prompts to help. These questions will let you dive deep into your identity. Giving you an idea of what you see your future as and the person you want to be.
Once these ideas are identified, you can create your vision.
Close your eyes and visualise yourself. At the very moment that you have achieved your goal in as much detail as possible. How do you feel? Where are you? Who is there with you?
When you have this clarity and affinity for your vision, you can take aligned action. When the right opportunity comes along, there will be no fear to take the leap. This is because you know you are heading in the right direction for your vision.
Additionally, you can begin to prioritise your health goals too. Becoming mindful of each action and how it impacts your health and happiness. From the food you eat, to the exercise you do and the time you take for yourself.
Allowing you to become your best self in every sense and building a healthy mindset.
3. Comparison
One of the most sabotaging mindset mistakes for your health is comparison. We are all guilty of comparing ourself to others.
It might feel like everyone around you is more attractive than you are, or more successful than you are. Or more fortunate or lucky than you. There are so many instances where we compare ourselves to others.
One poignant version of this is a comparison of where you are on the societal timeline of life. The assumption that you might be ‘behind’ other people in life.
I recommend reading The Defining Decade by Meg Jay. Revealing real-life examples where this comparison has lead to misalignment and unhappiness. One client realised she married because of the pressure of her peers marrying.
Constant comparison creates an envy for something that feels out of reach. Usually, this mindset mistake negative and reinforces the negative stories you tell yourself.
Additionally, seeing someone else with what you desire can be reason enough to no longer try. Acting as though there isn’t enough for you too.
As a result, it ruins your vision of your best life and who you want to be.
Comparing yourself to others can have extremely damaging effects on your mental and emotional health. Putting yourself down, creating a sense of worthlessness and feeling fatigued.
How can I overcome this mindset mistake?
Stopping yourself from comparing yourself to others can be difficult. Often, this is a negative habit that is maintained from a young age.
Instead, you can turn your mindset into a healthy, positive mindset.
When you feel yourself having comparative thoughts, stop and recognise them. What/who are they directed towards? What is it that they have that you want?
By recognising and questioning the thoughts, you can begin to understand them. This also gives you time to choose your reaction. Will you allow the negative comparison to manifest in negative emotions? Through the mind body connection, we know it is possible to change your thoughts and change how you feel physically.
Alternatively, you can use these thoughts positively. Reminding yourself that you live in abundance and there is more than enough for everyone. Perhaps even go to that person and ask them how they achieved the same goal.
Often finding a mentor or exemplar of your vision can help you to that path even sooner. This then becomes an opportunity for learning.
Overcome Mindset Mistakes Today
Are you making these mindset mistakes in your daily life? What kind of impact are they having on your health and wellness?
Now that you are aware of your mindset mistakes, you can turn them around. Begin to consider the stories you tell yourself and rethink them. Write a new story.
Create the most compelling vision of your future that it is irresistable. You must have it, no matter what. Remember that you live in abundance and are worthy of your goals.
You can correct your mindset mistakes to form a healthy and supportive mindset. Overcome these roadblocks and become your best self starting right now.