I don't believe there is anything of more importance to our well-being and success than our mindset. And if learning to master our mindset does not quickly become our number one priority, I doubt a consistently better quality of life and relationships, with the ability to develop a sustainable and successful business in the face of global transformation, will be almost possible.
But what is mindset?
Mindset is the assumptive base of our psyche, the totality of our beliefs, values, knowledged, world-views, pathologies and assertions. It's formed in part by the depth of our presence (objectivity), shadow (unresolved past pain), maturity (ability to hold and access perspective), experience, education and personality.
Mindset is the assumptive base of our psyche, the totality of our beliefs, values, knowledged, world-views, pathologies and assertions. It's formed in part by the depth of our presence (objectivity), shadow (unresolved past pain), maturity (ability to hold and access perspective), experience, education and personality.
Mindset is the frame upon which the narrative of our individual, communal and human life is hung. It informs our perceptions, guides our behaviour and determines the business and global systems we develop.
Behaviour is mindset in action
Behaviour is mindset in action
Behaviour is mindset responding and reacting to the provocations of events and circumstances, even our own thoughts and feelings (it's all external to mindset). Without mindset assumptions we'd have nothing to inform our behaviour, nothing to pull up on or push back against. To create sustainable behavioural change, our mindset assumptions at some point need to be either de-constructed, changed, transformed or created anew, depending on their degree of usefulness and accuracy. Many if not most of our mindset assumptions where passed onto us by our parents and our early influencers.
This is extremely helpful because it’s impossible to see mindset (our real inner beliefs and ideas) assumptions, they can only be inferred through behaviour, But in learning to observe our behaviour, without justification or condemnation, we soon come to learn everything we need to know about our mindset beliefs. And we need to know if we are to consciously participate in our own development and success.
Behaviour is a flow of logic
The word behaviour implies an isolated action, reaction or response but this is hardly ever the case. Almost everything we do involves a sequence of actions, from answering the phone (a simple short sequence) to building a successful business over many years (many multi-disciplined sequences over time). Now any sequence of actions holds an inherent logic, a reasoning be it conscious or sub-conscious, which emerges out of our mindset assumptive base, and then works to assert them.
In this way a sub-conscious belief may be that money is difficult to make. Then every strategy you create, which is just a flow of logic and behaviour, works to prove that assumption true. In other words the very strategies you create are designed to prove that money is difficult to make -- and yet you may think you are working very hard to prove just the opposite.
This is extremely helpful because it’s impossible to see mindset (our real inner beliefs and ideas) assumptions, they can only be inferred through behaviour, But in learning to observe our behaviour, without justification or condemnation, we soon come to learn everything we need to know about our mindset beliefs. And we need to know if we are to consciously participate in our own development and success.
Behaviour is a flow of logic
The word behaviour implies an isolated action, reaction or response but this is hardly ever the case. Almost everything we do involves a sequence of actions, from answering the phone (a simple short sequence) to building a successful business over many years (many multi-disciplined sequences over time). Now any sequence of actions holds an inherent logic, a reasoning be it conscious or sub-conscious, which emerges out of our mindset assumptive base, and then works to assert them.
In this way a sub-conscious belief may be that money is difficult to make. Then every strategy you create, which is just a flow of logic and behaviour, works to prove that assumption true. In other words the very strategies you create are designed to prove that money is difficult to make -- and yet you may think you are working very hard to prove just the opposite.
Or you may believe you are not worthy and your partner will at some point abandon you. Your behaviour over time works to assert that deep sub-conscious belief true, by finding ways to drive or push them away. This ultimately proves and deepens the original assumption and a habit or pattern is born.
Mindset influences the stream
Imagine the circumstances of your life as a stream of events rather than isolated individual occurrences, this is closer to the truth and more helpful. Through our reactions and responses we influence sometimes more and sometimes less, the flow of this stream of events. Of course everything, and I do mean everything is also influencing that stream of events. It is therefore impossible to control that stream, and the idea of control itself is nothing more than a completely unhelpful idea that I would urge you to abandon.
Results are snapshots of the stream
There is no such thing as a permanent result (another unhelpful idea), there is simply the flow of events and circumstances. What we take to be a result is simply a snapshot, like a photo of that stream at any given moment. Mostly we forget or are not even aware of how we influenced that stream of events at an earlier stage, when we where less aware or had less personal mastery.
Where do we have more influence?
We have depending upon our degree of mastery an almost complete and uninterrupted influence over our mindset, and therefore upon our responses to the flow of circumstances. But we have very little influence over the flow itself, and therefore over the totality of the results we experience.
Mastery means growing our degree of influence
It’s not possible that we ever control the flow of events and therefore the results we experience, but we can grow our degree of influence. Now sometimes that influence is more and sometime less. For example my business may be doing well and my life peachy, but if a asteroid suddenly came hurtling toward the planet, my degree of influence over my business, life and the flow of results I'm experiencing would radically diminish to practically zero.
Or I may be talking to my partner, and in that moment either of us may be exerting a dominant influence over the other. But if a fire suddenly broke out, my dominant influence would radically diminish and the fire would then exert the dominant influence over the both my partner and myself, over our house, our stuff and our future.
Influence in everything except our mindset, is a very fluid, waxing and waning affair.
Mindset and our quality of life
This is much simpler and more complex to understand. Suffice it to say, that the direct, unwavering and permanent consequence of mastery over our state of consciousness is the real feeling of joy and wholehearted connectedness we experience.
Thus to the degree that I am able to hold my presence (and not loose the plot) is to the same degree I avoid the psychological contraction into fear, stress and anxiety. And the same degree to which I experience joy and respond more fluidly, intelligently and creatively to the flow of events I am continuously and irrevocably swimming in.
Now 3,000 years ago, presence was a very big deal and the result of a lifetime of intense spiritual practice. But today it’s been my consistent experience that the average person can learn to hold their presence in just a few months. Because without learning to do this, it becomes impossible to master mindset and therefore to have the degree of intentional influence we need over our behaviour, to adequately influence the flow of events and the results we experience.
Mindset influences the stream
Imagine the circumstances of your life as a stream of events rather than isolated individual occurrences, this is closer to the truth and more helpful. Through our reactions and responses we influence sometimes more and sometimes less, the flow of this stream of events. Of course everything, and I do mean everything is also influencing that stream of events. It is therefore impossible to control that stream, and the idea of control itself is nothing more than a completely unhelpful idea that I would urge you to abandon.
Results are snapshots of the stream
There is no such thing as a permanent result (another unhelpful idea), there is simply the flow of events and circumstances. What we take to be a result is simply a snapshot, like a photo of that stream at any given moment. Mostly we forget or are not even aware of how we influenced that stream of events at an earlier stage, when we where less aware or had less personal mastery.
Where do we have more influence?
We have depending upon our degree of mastery an almost complete and uninterrupted influence over our mindset, and therefore upon our responses to the flow of circumstances. But we have very little influence over the flow itself, and therefore over the totality of the results we experience.
Mastery means growing our degree of influence
It’s not possible that we ever control the flow of events and therefore the results we experience, but we can grow our degree of influence. Now sometimes that influence is more and sometime less. For example my business may be doing well and my life peachy, but if a asteroid suddenly came hurtling toward the planet, my degree of influence over my business, life and the flow of results I'm experiencing would radically diminish to practically zero.
Or I may be talking to my partner, and in that moment either of us may be exerting a dominant influence over the other. But if a fire suddenly broke out, my dominant influence would radically diminish and the fire would then exert the dominant influence over the both my partner and myself, over our house, our stuff and our future.
Influence in everything except our mindset, is a very fluid, waxing and waning affair.
Mindset and our quality of life
This is much simpler and more complex to understand. Suffice it to say, that the direct, unwavering and permanent consequence of mastery over our state of consciousness is the real feeling of joy and wholehearted connectedness we experience.
Thus to the degree that I am able to hold my presence (and not loose the plot) is to the same degree I avoid the psychological contraction into fear, stress and anxiety. And the same degree to which I experience joy and respond more fluidly, intelligently and creatively to the flow of events I am continuously and irrevocably swimming in.
Now 3,000 years ago, presence was a very big deal and the result of a lifetime of intense spiritual practice. But today it’s been my consistent experience that the average person can learn to hold their presence in just a few months. Because without learning to do this, it becomes impossible to master mindset and therefore to have the degree of intentional influence we need over our behaviour, to adequately influence the flow of events and the results we experience.
We would literally be like a ship without a rudder, being blow from one place to another, a victim of the flow of events, and suffering.
The Scarcity Mindset has it's defences
There is a significant difference between a lifetime of struggling against our behaviour and what feels like a barrage of isolated events, circumstances and results, and working fluidly, intelligently and creatively with our mindset and the flow of events and circumstances.
Because mindset is so subtle and because we're already inside the very mindset that is the cause of all your troubles, it’s almost impossible to find the intentionality to ‘do the work’ without deeply understanding that your mindset is our biggest problem and our most pressing priority.
Because the moment you finish reading this, there is the overwhelming compulsion to set it aside with the thought, I do need to look into this ... one-day, as soon as I’ve gained more control over my life or work, and I have the time and money I need.
In other words, I’ll look into learning to ‘master the heart of mindset’, when I don’t need to learn to ‘master my mindset’ ... and that day never arrives.
The Scarcity Mindset has it's defences
There is a significant difference between a lifetime of struggling against our behaviour and what feels like a barrage of isolated events, circumstances and results, and working fluidly, intelligently and creatively with our mindset and the flow of events and circumstances.
Because mindset is so subtle and because we're already inside the very mindset that is the cause of all your troubles, it’s almost impossible to find the intentionality to ‘do the work’ without deeply understanding that your mindset is our biggest problem and our most pressing priority.
Because the moment you finish reading this, there is the overwhelming compulsion to set it aside with the thought, I do need to look into this ... one-day, as soon as I’ve gained more control over my life or work, and I have the time and money I need.
In other words, I’ll look into learning to ‘master the heart of mindset’, when I don’t need to learn to ‘master my mindset’ ... and that day never arrives.
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