Strengthening one’s mind is essential for moving forward in life and overcoming the challenges that present themselves to us.
Here are 13 things to do to strengthen your mind and generate more happiness and abundance in your life.
Replace self-pity with gratitude
When Jack’s legs were broken in an accident, his mother was devastated. She couldn’t help but mull over this “terrible accident”. And although the doctors predicted that Jack could walk normally, his mother couldn’t help the terrible life he was going to have if he couldn’t walk normally.
Jack was overcome with despair and his mother ended up taking him to a therapist.
Instead of complaining about him like his mother did, he started joking about this crazy experience and led him to write a funny story called “How to Beat a School Bus”.
Above all, the therapist encouraged his mother to feel gratitude that his son was still alive rather than feeling sorry for himself.
In a few weeks, Jack found a smile and fully recovered the use of his legs.
Pain and grief are part of life, but ruminating on feeling sorry for yourself can only make matters worse.
Take a few moments each day to focus on what is going well, how lucky you are, and how much gratitude you may have.
A study has shown that people who experience gratitude regularly have a stronger immune system, sleep better, and have a better quality of life.
Protect your power by forgiving others.
Oprah Winfrey was born into a poor black-American family in the United States. And his childhood was particularly difficult with sexual abuse and pregnancy at 14 years of age.
Through hard work and determination, she finally found a job as a television presenter. Until his dismissal …
But instead of feeling resentful for her boss, she directed all of her energy into creating her own show.
Her career has made her the highest paid presenter and one of the richest women in the world.
And throughout her career, she has invested herself in defending the less fortunate and inspiring others to realize their potential.
Choosing forgiveness improves pain tolerance, reduces stress and helps you live longer.
Start by identifying the words that make you pass for a victim.
Stop talking about what you are forced to do, or what others are telling you to do. Instead, think in terms of what you choose to do and take responsibility for how you spend your time and energy.
Embrace change rather than running away from it
Whatever changes you want to make in your life, it’s easy to make excuses and avoid them.
But finding excuses limits your potential and prevents you from fully realizing your life.
The next time you want to make a personal change, try these 5 steps:
Create a 30-day goal: change is not going to happen overnight so allow yourself some time.
Establish concrete, daily behavioral changes to move toward this goal.
Anticipate obstacles and plan how to overcome them.
Report to your friends or family on your progress.
Measure your progress by recording your successes every day.
To inspire you even more, imagine the person you want to be. Every change you make and every goal you reach brings you closer to that person.
Focus on the things you can control.
It is impossible to control everything, and you will exhaust yourself trying to do it.
Weather, traffic, illness, etc. are things you can anticipate but not control. However, you can control how you respond to it.
Start by accepting the things you can’t act on.
This will leave you with the energy to act where you can.
Be comfortable with displeasing others.
Certain sects or communities do not allow its members to live their lives outside the community while maintaining contact with their families who remain inside.
Those who want their independence must therefore cut ties with their family and friends who remain in the community.
Risking rejection and criticism from others is painful, but it is sometimes the only way to do the things one wants to achieve and to live in accordance with one’s values and aspirations.
To strengthen your mind, it is important to take the risk of being criticized and to resist the tendency to make decisions based on what will appeal to others.
Learn to take calculated risks
Do you hold back on following your dreams because of what could go wrong?
Do you have difficulty making important decisions in your life?
Do you find it difficult to take risks?
So it is possible that your emotions (and especially fear) interfere with your ability to make decisions.
Our emotions are not always aligned with real risk.
For example, the chances of dying from a car accident are much higher than those of having a plane crash. And yet people take the car every day and start to panic as soon as they arrive at the airport.
To keep an eye on your emotions and make better choices:
- Analyze the pros and cons of a risk to take
- Imagine the worst that could happen if you take that risk
- Make a plan of what you would do if you find yourself in the worst situation
- Ask yourself how much this decision will count in 5 years
Make peace with your past
Certain experiences from your past can come back to haunt you regularly. But the more time and energy you give them, the more you strengthen the related neural circuits.
If you lose your energy brooding over the past, you will inevitably lack energy for your future.
Start by recognizing the emotional price you pay, forgive the people who hurt you, and change the behaviors that keep you going in the past.
Seeking professional help is always a good investment if you have deep wounds.
Avoid making the same mistakes over and over
All successful entrepreneurs and people know that it is their mistakes that have given them their greatest lessons.
When something goes wrong, it can be tempting to feel sorry for yourself, get discouraged, or give in to anger.
But to strengthen your mind, it is better to ask yourself the following two questions:
How could I have done better?
What will I do differently next time?
Collaborate with others rather than envy their success
While working at the Hershey Chocolate Factory, H.B. Reese started his own candy company in the same town.
Rather than being wary and trying to stop Reese from starting his own business, Milton Hershey supported him by helping him make his mink out of peanut butter candies.
Their collaboration lasted their whole life and the two companies finally merged.
Resentment and envy are common traits, but with the right frame of mind, you can build on the success and power of others rather than succumbing to envy.
The next time you envy someone, see how you can work with them and celebrate their accomplishments.
Be tenacious and accept your failures
Tenacity is the secret to success, much more than talent or luck.
To realize your potential, focus on learning and improving with compassion rather than trying to be the best.
A study published in 2012 showed that students who were guided in an exercise of self-compassion and self-improvement studied 25% longer and obtained a better score than students who had boosted their self-esteem.
Strengthen Your Mind: Embrace Loneliness
With social networks and the multiple stimuli available with a smartphone, it is becoming easier to distract yourself.
But to strengthen your mind, it is important to take time in solitude to regenerate, be inspired, and reflect.
Take an hour regularly to reflect on your life goals and whether you are on the right track.
Listen to your feelings and identify the negative emotions that need to be addressed.
Keeping a diary or meditating during this hour can be a great tool to clear the mental fog and see the future clearly.
Focus on giving rather than receiving
When something bad happens to you, you may be told that “you deserve better than that”.
And while it may be pleasant to hear, the more you believe in this lie that the world owes you anything, the more miserable you will be when the reality is not up to your expectations.
The world owes you nothing, and you will always be miserable if you only think about what you can receive.
Focus on what you can bring and you will be much happier.
Recognize that results take time
Whatever goal you have, it will always take time to achieve it. And often much more than you thought.
If it seems that the success of others happened overnight, it is because you have not been behind the scenes to observe the many failures and refusals as well as the hours of work spent.
The Beatles spent thousands of hours rehearsing anonymously or playing in bars before achieving the worldwide success we know.
The Amazon company was not profitable for 7 years before being the first global company today.
So whatever your goal, be determined to practice regularly without expecting immediate results.
Conclusion
To strengthen your mind, it is important to put in place strategies that work and that are used by successful people.
Again, change does not happen overnight and you can decide on a first strategy to put in place to start this process.
Recognize your negative emotions and let them go to replace them with more positive ones.
Be determined and stubborn to develop a strong mind.
This article is a translation of this original article published in French : Renforcer Son Mental : 13 Stratégies Pour Réussir