Last week, I introduced the 3-Pillar System to Freedom from Anxiety. Today, we’re going into the 1st Pillar: MINDSET.
Every day you do things to maintain a clean home. Some days you vacuum, some days you dust, most days you do the dishes, and there’s always laundry, amiright?
Cleaning up your mind is a similar, daily practice. But instead of vacuum cleaners and dust rags, there are mindset tools and techniques.
My husband is always telling me, “you gotta have the right tool for the job.” Yup. Same here.
I made a really cool reference guide for you that goes along with episode #11 of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. I love having a guide to walk me through things step-by-step. Just click here to grab your free downloadable guide so that you have it handy.
The first tool for cleaning up your mind is Thought Work. I like to think of Thought Work as the overall awareness of the power of your mind and the fact that you need to keep your mind super-duper clean in order to get where you want to go. One of the most specific ways you can practice Thought Work is by doing a Thought Download, which I first introduced in episode #6.
The next tool is The Model. This is absolutely one of my favorites! And it’s a go-to for me personally and something I use with every single one of my clients. Working through the 5 categories of The Model will show you exactly what you’re up to every single time and can create the roadmap for anything you want to create. Episode #5 is the place to find out more about The Model and to grab some extra worksheets!
Next up is Belief Systems. Beliefs are simply thoughts you think over and over again…to the point that you forget they’re optional and start falling for them as facts. Some belief systems will work for you and support who you want to be: your spiritual and political beliefs are likely examples of this. But there are also sneakier beliefs, beliefs about how you should fit in or look a certain way. Those beliefs cause so much pain…and most of the time we aren’t even aware of them. Check out episode #9 and the worksheet with that podcast for more on uncovering and challenging your Belief Systems.
Fixed vs. Growth Mindset is a new tool that I’m introducing this week…and it’s a good one. This tool is pulled from Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset, and the research she has done on motivation. We will likely be revisiting this on the podcast because it’s so damn good. Here are the mindsets, in her words:
In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success - without effort. They’re wrong.
In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work - brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.
Lastly is Conscious vs. Unconscious Thinking. We explored the power of unconscious thinking in episode #8 (grab the worksheet for that one!)…conscious thinking is such a small part of our cognition, after all. If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “I wish I didn’t feel so anxious,” and then, almost at the same time, found yourself feeling anxious, this is likely a result of your unconscious mind at work. Whenever I see someone in self-sabotage, I’m always curious to get into their unconscious thinking. The way in is via the conscious mind. It’s mind-bendy stuff, but it works. Conscious and unconscious thinking is an important perspective to maintain throughout the process of cleaning up your mind.
Don’t forget to grab this week’s downloadable goodie, your Mindset Cheatsheet is waiting here for you!
Here are the podcast links so you can listen in to this week’s show. See you there!
For iTunes, just click here.
If Stitcher is your thing, then click here.
And Spotify? Click here!
To find out more about Jesse Blake, who is responsible for the wonderful music on the podcast, click here. He’s got loads of great stuff and all of you yogis, meditators, and yoga teachers will find his stuff especially wonderful for your practices and classes.
