Mindset Matters

So here we are, a year after "The Secret" took our world by storm and we all decided that just dreaming about that fabulous Ferrari wasn't going to deliver it to our driveways. And the authorities agree, living our ideal life is not just about thinking and wishing and dreaming.

However, the truth is, mindset affects our reality quite a bit. There are plenty of happy children in poor countries, creating games out of the lone plastic bag they found on the street. On the other side, there are plenty of miserable people who on the surface have it all - witness Britney Spears. So let's say we agree that our happiness is not just about the external circumstances, but also about our internal attitude. Where's the proof that our mindset matters?

Here's one scientific experiment. Women who were informed that the work they did (cleaning hotel rooms) is good exercise and satisfies the Surgeon General's recommendations for an active lifestyle not only perceived themselves to be getting significantly more exercise than before, but also showed a decrease in weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and BMI - all in four weeks!

Here's another. A study showed that pregnant women who were given sugar pills (placebos) and told that these "drugs" were meant to help cure morning sickness actually got better. Even more amazingly, women who were given (mild) doses of a drug that induces vomiting actually got BETTER when they were taking drugs that should have made them sicker.

YES, these are honest to goodness scientific experiments. Perhaps the mind truly does have amazing power over the body, and perception is the key. Perhaps beliefs can be self-fulfilling prophecies. So how does this apply to you? Where in your life (work, relationships, exercise, fun) can you use the power of your mind and actively use it to your advantage?

Quote of the week: "If you think you can, or if you think you can't, you're right." - Henry Ford

Simple Silence

Here we are, constantly trying to learn more, add more, cram in that one research report on the train home to get smarter and push out that one extra assignment to feel more accomplished – juggling a billion roles and rarely feeling like we get anything done totally well. This is why it got my attention when I recently heard from a working mother who said she managed to feel good every day about her accomplishments. She had decided that if she could only make sure that the kitchen was sparkling clean before she went to sleep, so her husband had a clean place to make the family coffee in the morning – no matter how messy the rest of the house was with children’s toys or paperwork – then she had permission to relax and feel that she did her job well. That simplification, the idea that finishing just one or two things completely & well by the end of each day means success, was really interesting.

What happens when we don’t allow ourselves to slow down, to simplify, to make time to process our day? Time to sit back and let all those thoughts marinate? We feel rushed, pushed, exhausted and unable to be creative. Overloading ourselves is like dumping tons of information into a vat and wondering why the plastic cracked; taking time out gives us the opportunity to use that same information to change the shape and fabric of the vessel. Without giving ourselves that time, that moment of silence, we do not change and despite all the effort, it’s likely that our performance won’t improve. In fact, there is a study that shows that rats who went through a complicated maze did no better if they were thrown into it immediately afterwards; those that stood still for a moment after they emerged, however, did significantly better the subsequent times.

In the same way, those of us running the rat race might really benefit from carving out just one moment a day when we take a step back, pause, and do nothing. Even for a minute. What time of day would work best for you? What would you do during that minute? What would it take for you to make this a habit?

Quote of the Week: “The soul grows by subtraction, not addition.” - Thoreau