What goes into building a healthy mindset?

A healthy mindset lets you focus on the positive aspects in life and helps your mind flourish. It paves a way for your thoughts and feelings to find meaning and purpose in life so that you can live it to the fullest potential.

YOUR PERSPECTIVE OF LIFE PROFOUNDLY IMPACTS YOUR MINDSET:

Being optimistic or pessimistic has always been a tell tale sign of how you are likely to react in a given situation. For instance, when we experience a setback, an optimistic person is likely to see it as a learning opportunity and brainstorm different ideas on how to overcome that obstacle; whereas, a pessimistic person is likely to see it as a sign to give up. In life, we all face situations where we have to make difficult decisions; and since mindsets are self-fulfilling; i.e. how you perceive stress affects how you respond to it, the type of outlook you have on life corresponds to how you act in response to these difficult decisions (stressors) in life.

According to Dr. Martin Seligman, founder of positive psychology, how you respond to life events is more important than the event itself. For instance, if a pessimist loses his/her job; s/he will tend to explain the incident in a ‘permanent, universal and personal manner;’ whereas, an optimist will focus on the ‘temporary, specific and external aspects of the incident.’ When we have a positive perspective of life, we tend to spend less time dwelling over unpleasant negative aspects because we are more focused on the good things. A positive outlook is not the solution to prevent all mental health illnesses but it can reduce the risk of developing them, especially mood and substance disorders. 

A HEALTHY BODY IS SIGNIFICANTLY RELATED TO A HEALTHY MINDSET:

Is there a problem because of poor diet, or is it the problem that contributes to a poor diet?

The mind and the body are connected in many ways. A healthy body reflects itself on your mindset. Feelings of wellbeing are more prevalent when you consume a healthy and balanced diet. For instance, whenever you are down with an illness, you experience an overall body weakness, you’re unlikely to want to socialize, and find yourself feeling a little more pessimistic than usual. Thus, our eating habits can contribute to increasing or decreasing our wellbeing.

Studies have shown that diet plays a vital role in development, management and prevention of various illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression and Alzheimer’s disease. It is not to say, however, that other treatments should be neglected while focusing on diet, rather, it should go hand in hand, amplifying the success of the treatments. 

Not only diet, but even physical activity has been found to have a positive impact on mental health. It has been observed by many researchers that exercise causes changes in the brain such as secretion of chemicals which keep the neurons healthy in the brain. Another way to keep the brain up and running is by doing brain exercise which includes puzzles like crossword or chess. 

THE PEOPLE YOU SURROUND YOURSELF WITH GREATLY INFLUENCE YOUR MINDSET:

A lot of how we make sense of the people around us has a lot to do with the “vibe” they give off. We often tend to pick up the traits of the people we spend time with. The values that they place on certain things tend to rub off on us, just like when we start picking up habits of our caregivers as children. By surrounding yourself with positive people, you naturally will begin to see things in a different light.

The principle of emotion contagion holds that the emotions of two or more people converge and are passed from person to person in larger groups.

Emotions are contagious. What’s more alarming is the fact that negative emotions are even more contagious! We dwell over negativity much longer than we celebrate positive emotions. For example, winning the lottery once will cultivate positive emotions that will perhaps last a few days whereas, losing a small investment or a few thousand bucks will leave us feeling negative emotions for a much longer period, sometimes even months. Subsequently, if you interact with an angry person, you are more likely to respond in kind and even project anger onto others and cause a chain reaction. Even when you’re in a crowd of strangers, you tend to feel the same way the crowd does even when you know that you might feel differently if you were alone, (example: mob mentality) unless you are consciously resisting it.

This is supported by the phenomenon of ‘group think’ which occurs when a group reaches a consensus without rational evaluation of the consequences of their decisions. It is based on a common desire of not wanting to cause conflict by opposing decisions. One famous example of ‘groupthink’ is the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The blatant refusal to take into consideration the possible consequences of our actions is why groupthink is a dangerous phenomenon which we experience more often than we think! It can come in the form of high-risk behavior such as anti-social and criminal behaviors, peer pressure, and can even influence political ideas.

Happy people make us happy, impatient people make us impatient, angry people make us angry. Surrounding ourselves with people who emulate positive emotions keep us feeling motivated towards achieving a healthy mindset. The type of people we interact with the most have the potential to change and influence our thoughts and ideologies fairly easily, this is why we have to be smart about who we allow into our social circles.

HIGH SELF ESTEEM EQUALS A HEALTHY MINDSET:

Self-esteem is the value that we place on ourselves. Research on self-esteem stresses the importance of self-esteem as crucial to the development of physical and mental health. Having a high self worth and self image is a part of increasing self esteem. If you have a high self esteem, you will be able to recognize your own good qualities and strive for a better life. Whereas, low self esteem has the capability to fester negative feelings about the self and negate them of achieving a higher self worth and a positive self image. A number of research points to the evidence that high self esteem has a positive relationship with better mental health. Alternately, low self esteem is associated with mental disorders such as depression, suicidal tendencies, eating disorders, violence and substance abuse. 

Building self-esteem starts by learning to love ourselves. When we do so, we will automatically strive for a better life and look for ways to do what is best for us. This leads to a more fulfilling and satisfying life. It is easy to put into words but the very act of self love isn’t the easiest thing to do for many of us. It is difficult to change the already formed deep seeded, negative thoughts about ourselves. It takes time and patience to challenge these cynical thoughts and learn to value ourselves and see that we are worthy of love and happiness.

Increasing self esteem requires a lot of work – a healthy body, practicing adaptive coping strategies and surrounding yourself with a strong support system that makes you feel loved and accepted is a good way to start this journey. Seeking professional help is also advised when self help is not successful.

HAVING A PURPOSE IN LIFE IS KEY TO A HEALTHY MINDSET:

‘Those who have a “why” to live, can bear with almost any “how”.’- Nietzsche

Having a sense of purpose is essential to leading a fulfilled life. People with a strong sense of purpose in life tend to do better on a number of different measures of mental health. Studies have shown that people who are heavily affected by their personal experiences found themselves struggling with emotions and resorting to maladaptive coping strategies and lacking purpose in life. This acts as a hindrance to them becoming a fully functioning person.

For Carl Rogers, the founder of client-centered therapy, a fully functioning person is the ideal personality wherein, the person ‘experiences freedom of choice and action, is creative and exhibits the qualities of existential living.’ According to Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs, each person strives to achieve self-actualization, a state in which a person experiences the ‘fulfillment of talents and potentials.’ This is the highest state of mental wellbeing a person can experience which is achieved by having a purpose- the purpose to reach self-actualization.

Having a purpose in life predicts both good health and longevity. This means that finding meaning in your own experiences builds resilience and motivates productivity. Having a purpose in life is also positively associated with self-image and well-being. People with a strong sense of purpose tend to live a better existence with regards to mental health and well-being because they engage in healthier behaviors giving them a much more positive outcome in life.

These are some aspects that years of research have found to have a strong connection to cultivating a healthy mindset. Only one factor is not responsible for a healthy mindset, rather, a mixture of different approaches can be fashioned to your likeness. This will inevitably leave you feeling better about yourself and those around you will experience these changes along with you.