A Set

The conscious and subconscious minds make up the minds set. The conscious mind is our thinker; it’s where we evaluate our thoughts and experiences and determine what, if anything, we’re going to do about them. We also have a subconscious, non-thinking mind. It stores all the historical information, our beliefs, and everything we feed into it. Our subconscious mind believes whatever we tell it as it has no regard for right or wrong, true or false, it just takes in what we give it, and that’s final.

Our mindset contains a series of thoughts and beliefs. I’ve learned from my mentor Joseph McClendon that it’s about what we think and believe about ourselves, others, and the world around us. He calls the mind the software. What we think and feel is so. The Bible says that as a man thinketh, so is he. I’ll say that as a man believeth, so is he. We can’t function to our highest good outside of what we believe. Whatever we do that is not within our belief system causes us stress; it goes against our mindset. When we say that we want something, and we do want it, but, we don’t take action to get it, it’s because we don’t really believe that it’s for us. We don’t think that we can actually achieve what we desire in life. The difference between what we have now and what we want is our belief in ourselves. Our mindset and belief system can either propel us forward or hold us back.

Mindset Matters

The frequency at which we vibrate determines the things and people we draw into our lives. When we believe low-energy thoughts about ourselves, we become victims of ourselves. We are prisoners in our minds and tend to stay stuck in that lowlevel belief. Our mindset determines how we treat ourselves, how deserving we think we are and how well we recover from things that happen to us. The people that we draw to us are like us. The thoughts that we have been on the same frequency. I’ll call it the law of attraction or magnetism; we attract things and people that tune to the same frequency. We repel those that operate at a different vibration; we usually repel what we really want in our lives.

Let’s look at how the law of attraction and magnetism works. When I got depressed, I had a flood of negative thoughts about myself, one after another. The thoughts came so fast that it didn’t take much time for me to spiral downhill; before I knew it, I would lay on the couch for two or three days, drowning in my thought pattern. One negative thought attracted the next negative thought; I had no idea how to control the negative thoughts from coming. Since I lived in this negative space, I projected negative energy. Then I started hanging around people that vibrated like me. The more rooms I was in with the negative, energized forces, my energy became profoundly negative, thus creating more depressing thoughts and behaviors.

Think about this scenario, during my teen years, I had a friend that felt like she had to earn people to be nice to her; she was so excited to have anyone around to call a friend. She didn’t believe that she deserved people to be nice to her. She had friends who would say mean things to her, call her stupid, tells her she had missing bolts in her brain, and say much more degrading things to her. My dear friend continued to hang around the group of friends. As I began to get to know her friends, I noticed that they were in bad relationships and had people doing and saying the same things to them. My friend set off the vibration of ‘I don’t deserve people to be nice to me,’ so she attracted people who were not so nice to her. Maybe someone you know so often believes they don’t have to be kind to themselves. They get into relationships where their partner is not kind to them. The way to change whom we relate with is to change how we relate to ourselves. When we believe we must treat ourselves respectfully, we give off the vibration for others to treat us respectfully. Our mindset matters because what we believe about ourselves is what we project out to the world.

Just as the mind impacts our brain and blood flow, our brain affects our mind. When our brain is not functioning optimally, we sometimes perceive things differently than we would if our brain had what it needed. We start making decisions that go against what we want, we can become more negative, and we can become irritable and moody. We optimize our mindset by ensuring that our brain is hydrated, has proper nutrients, and has plenty of sleep. When I lack in any of the three, it takes me longer to process when others are talking to me. I get irritable, my mindset shifts, and I become the victim within myself. Even a study published in the National Library of Medicine found that dehydration impairs our mood and our mindset. At the very minimum, water, the proper nutrients, and seven hours of sleep can do the mind wonders. Taking care of our brain helps us to take care of our mindset.

Awareness

In addition to optimizing our brains, the first step in taking care of our mindset is to become aware of our beliefs. We either have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. A fixed mindset is the belief that we can't change how we are. I am the way that I am, and that's all. A fixed mindset sits back, lets life happen, and waits for the next thing to come up. A person with a fixed mindset needs to be made aware of the role they play in life happening to them. They need to understand the frequency they are vibrating on. They feel like they'll never catch a break

Our Minds Partner

Our brain’s partner is our mindset. Our mind is the software, and Dr. Daniel Amen says that “our brain is the hardware.” They are in partnership; they fuel each other. When our mind gets stuck on a thought and finds it hard to move past it, the negative thought provides the playground for more negative thoughts to enter. As we’re stuck in our negative thought pattern, the emotional part of our brain, the limbic system, is set to high. Our body delivers more blood flow to that part of the brain to keep it going. Our mind gives our brain directives. Our mind directs our brain to get more blood to sustain the negative thought pattern. We have to take care of our mindset, so we don’t go into a negative emotional overload. We have to discontinue the use of our minds as a negative playground.

and always get looked over. Having a fixed mindset is living within one's own limiting beliefs. A growth mindset looks for opportunities to become better, looks for challenges to grow, learns from the things that happen in life, and sets themselves up for the next dimension of their life. They believe that abundance is for themselves as well as everyone else.

We go as far as we think we can go. We only do what we believe we can do. We have a limited mindset and belief system, or we have one that is of abundance. The first key in the mindset is knowing what we believe and whether that belief is abundant or limited. Remember, our beliefs have gotten us to where we are today, and our beliefs will keep us where we are or set us up for what's next in our lives. The goal is to control our mindset and become the victor within ourselves. We can only adjust our mindset if we're aware of our beliefs. Take some time to reflect on these four questions: 1. What do I believe? 2. What limited beliefs do I have that are sabotaging my mindset? 3. What beliefs do I have about living an abundant life? 4. Do I have a fixed or a growth mindset?

Evaluate And Know The Truth

Our mindset -beliefs are shaped by our childhood, our environment, and the things we feed ourselves from the outside world (music, TV, readings, other people). We carry many beliefs; some serve us well, and others do not. We must determine what we believe and evaluate if that's for us. After we become aware of our mindset and belief system, the next step is to assess them. I ask myself many questions about a belief. The three most important questions we should answer when we become aware of a belief are: 1. Does the belief serve me? 2. Why or why not? 3. Is the belief the truth?

Until we became aware of the belief, it was true to us but not the truth. When something is true, we label it true from our perspective; however, more data and facts can change our perspective of what's true for us. When a belief is a truth, it's universal. The truth cannot change. For example, before I was able to put a name to depression, I truly believed that the way I lived was the only way. My mindset was that I would live a lifestyle where I was down for weeks or months, that alcohol was the only way to cope with life, and that there was no other way to live. When I learned about depression and turned to God, I found the truth. I changed my perception of what was true for me. The truth is I don't have to live with depression. I learned techniques like neuro-linguistic programming, cognitive behavior therapy, and hypnotherapy to help me live in truth. Until we are aware of a true belief (I have to learn to live with depression), we cannot evaluate it and know the truth about it (I can live free from depression).

Reduce and Rebuke

Deep seeded beliefs have taken root so far within us that we may never uncover them. Even though being in control of one's mind does not eliminate the negative thoughts, they still creep in. The difference between controlling our mind and letting it control us is in our ability to recognize when we think negatively and reduce the size of the thought in a moment. To not give it any of our energy, what we do not fuel cannot be sustained. We have to learn to provide the thought no weight, do not succumb to things that do not serve us. We have to permit ourselves not to receive something that the world feeds us and not receive things that are not for us. When I become aware of a thought or belief that does not serve me, I say, "I rebuke that thought. I rebuke that belief". And then I ask God to please replace what's in me that is not of you with the things that are. Once I repeat those words, the thought leaves, and I am at peace. When my kid turned two, my friend said, "oh, here comes the terrible twos.". I looked at her and said, "I rebuke that. I do not receive that in our life. Two year old's are curious and trying things out, testing the water. There is nothing terrible about that".

When we rebuke things, we are telling our subconscious mind not to store that, do not act upon it. Mindset makes a difference, and our mindset determines how we treat others. If I had received that statement from my friend and adopted her mindset, I would have treated my kid like she was acting out and being a terrible two-year-old. My friend's mindset was that two-year-olds are terrible; my mindset was that two-year-olds are trying to figure out the world they live in. I find myself rebuking thoughts throughout my day. Before I go to sleep, I say, "God, I rebuke all thoughts and beliefs that I had today. Please replace what's in me that is not of you with the things that are". You may not use the word God or believe in God. Change the phrase to make it fit into your life. Find something that works for you that will help reduce and rebuke the beliefs, thoughts, and words spoken over you so you can control your mindset.

Setup The Environment For A Growth Mindset

I set myself up for a growth mindset at night. Each day, I prepare my mental pallet for a positive mindset. After I say my prayer and rebuke the negative things from my day, I turn to YouTube binaural music and fall asleep. When I wake and lay in bed, I pray and tell myself the mindset I want to vibrate in for the day. What attitude do I want to project out to the world? How do I want to show up? By setting my mindset frequency, I am giving my subconscious mind directives. I am telling my subconscious mind what to focus on during my day. Some may call them positive affirmations. As I lay, I have thoughts as I will only take in the things that will serve me to my highest good. I control my emotions. I show up one hundred percent in all that I do.

Setting my morning to be on point makes a difference. I had days when I did not set up my mental environment and take care of my brain and mindset. I had days when I didn't go to sleep to my binaural music and did not positively affirm my day. My energy didn't seem right on those days, and my vibration felt off. It was harder to get my day going. When we take care of our brain and prepare our mental pallet for a growth mindset, it cleanses our mind and makes the day easier to choose the thoughts and beliefs that will serve us. As you go through the day, think about what steps you can take to prepare your mental pallet for a growth mindset. Mindset does matter.

Monica M Madden

(614) 434-8491 monica@monicaMmadden.com

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