Mindfulness

Developing Awareness Through Learning

One of the most useful applications of growth mindset theory is the ability to utilise the science for your own well-being.

Growth mindset has been covered well in previous newsletters but to briefly summarise, our brain demonstrates neural plasticity, an ability to learn, best when we see ourselves as learners. Cognitive bias means our belief in ourselves as a learner encourages us to see it more.

Harvard studies also show that individuals that see stress as something that improves performance, tend to see themselves as people who deal with stress well, and most importantly, these individuals do out-perform their counterparts that see stress as an inhibitor of performance.

This is where ThinkingBigger comes in. Combining what is known about neural plasticity and extrapolating observations in growth mindset studies, we can see that belief has the ability to restructure our neural pathways. Neural plasticity means that the pathways can change at any moment, purely based on our decisions of what to believe. It doesn’t intend to make it sound overly easy, it isn’t. It can take years of practice to overcome habits and develop a mindset that can control our internal worlds, or you could get it in the flash of a ‘eureka’ moment.

Once you have this ability, then it becomes about your awareness to take control in every situation. We have a choice whether to allow ourselves to be worried by situations outside of our control. We have a choice whether fear can dominate our actions and ability to simply ‘be ok’.

This itself is a choice we have and it is solely based on the conversations we have with ourselves. Our ability to deal with challenges with stoicism, means that our challenges are not seen. But our ability to remain ok while the world burns down around us is what makes us leaders.

It is ok to not be ok. It is important that when we need help we turn to the right people who want the best for us. But it is also important that we tell ourselves that we are ok and can get through things - for if it is our belief that gets us through, it needs to be there.

In my book about resilience, Percy Vera and the Proper Cornish Pasty, Ruthy Martin’s wonderful ‘Tub Hazard’ series gives us Percy the fisherman. He is all of us. His determination to keep going regardless, calmly dealing with every challenge, is a message to us all. But most importantly it is the ending… Through all of these challenges, he learns. And that is all that matters as long as we keep on going!

-Gary Fyles