How to master your mindset!

How do you master your mindset?

That was a question I kept asking myself when I wanted to wean off my anti-depressants, after being on them for 6 years!

At that point in my life, I had realized there was a cost of numbing out my fear and anxiety, and that was numbing out my joy too! I kept noticing how much I was struggling to feel each moment!

I remember this vivid memory of bringing my daughter to the park and pushing her on the swing, and not being able to feel joy.

That moment of realization was so eye-opening and yet, so scary because, I knew I had to make a very important decision! Frankly, one of the hardest decisions of my life!

After asking myself, what’s more important, spending these precious years feeling numb? Or developing the strength and the courage to wean off my anti-depressants so I can feel more alive!

The obvious choice was to wean off my anti-depressants, but I knew that came at a cost. I was well aware of the withdrawals I would experience once I started weaning off the medication.

The fact that I was already eating super clean and exercising every day gave me that confidence that I can do this. But I still felt there was a missing element I needed to cope with the withdrawals and that was mastering my mindset!

I talk about this in greater detail in my online training program called Reduce your Stress, Reduce your Waistline. To learn more, click on the link below https://www.yourjourneytowardswellness.com/http/yourjourneytowardswellnesscom/first-video-rysryw to access my 3-part video series (absolutely free) to help manage your stress and enhance your overall health and wellbeing even further!

In my 3-part video series, I emphasize the importance of having a daily ritual of mastering your mindset! Otherwise, it’s so easy to let your mind take over! You see, the brain is designed to keep you safe, it’s not designed to make you happy! That’s our job! So, if the brain is not trained properly, it’ll just focus on the negative aspects of your life!

All this to say that I needed the tools and the strategies to face those challenging times and to train my mind to be free! Because, let me tell you, suffering from ongoing anxiety is one thing but going through the withdrawals of weaning off the medication was one of the biggest beasts I had to conquer.

I mean there were many times I wanted to throw in the towel and go right back on the medication. But mastering my mindset every single day gave me the strength and the courage to push through those challenging times.

This is why I want to share with you the 5 major takeaways I learned that helped me master my mindset!

#1 The power of self-awareness:

Raising our awareness gives us the power to shape and develop our ideal sense of self! 

When we discover new insights about ourselves, we start to find our real authentic self, which is a beautiful gift anyone can ask for! 

The more we’re mindful of our everyday thoughts, actions, behaviors, and habits, the more power we have on changing it!

#2 Breathwork/Meditation

Learning how to manage my stress and anxiety through breathwork/meditation has given me the power of reducing my anxiety significantly! Simply focusing on your breath connects you to the present moment, where you can feel at peace. Simply closing our eyes and breathing deeply, allows the phrenic nerve of our diaphragm to send a signal to our brain that we’re safe. Meditation has also been proven to put us in an alpha state, which means, in a state of relaxed/awareness. 

 Another important stress management tool is EFT-Tapping, (Emotional Freedom Technique). Nick Ortner does an amazing job of demonstrating how it works. 

Just click on this link https://youtu.be/XRfLTQjJhp0 to find out more. 

 #3 How to live in a state of love, as opposed to living in a state of fear! 

Living in a state of love requires you to activate the love hormones, such a;

Endorphins

Dopamine

Serotonin

And Oxytocin

You get endorphins when you exercise, which is why you feel good after a workout!

You get Dopamine when you achieve your goals. This is why every morning I write down a list of my daily goals and once I achieve them, I make sure to scratch it off, so I get a hit of dopamine

You get serotonin when you or someone else is proud of yourself! Which why we’ll likely do more for others than ourselves.

And you get oxytocin through physical touch which is why hugging is so important.

Through acts of kindness and service, which is why, if you’ll notice people who volunteer seem so happy. That’s because they are getting a dose of oxytocin

So mastering living in a state of love ultimately reduces your fears because love cannot co-exist with fear, just like fear, cannot co-exist with love! So, the more I learned how to implement these happy chemicals (love hormones), the less fear and anxiety I had!

 #4 The attitude of Gratitude:  

Give yourself that gift of writing down 1 – 3 things or moments you’re truly grateful for. Instead of writing a list, take the time and really feel that moment that you’re super grateful for! 

The reason that’s so important is that the brain cannot differentiate between an actual live moment or a feeling. So, by feeling those grateful moments, you’re conditioning your mindset to be happier!  

 #5 Words of affirmations 

Our brain conditions itself through habitual thinking and self-communication. 

We literally think 70 000 thoughts per day and If your habitual thinking and self-communication are more negative than positive, it’ll ultimately affect your self-esteem, your self-worth, and your confidence. If you want to improve your life, it starts within. It starts with positive affirmations every single day It literally wires the neurons inside your brain to be more positive and live a more joyful life. I include this practice during my morning routine to help set the tone for my day! 

Simply start with I AM, then fill in the blank with a positive statement! This might be awkward at first, but trust me, the more you do it, the easier it gets and the better you feel as it raises your self-worth and confidence.

I hope this blog post serves as a step in the right direction when it comes to mastering your mindset.  Once you implement these teachings in your everyday life, you’ll soon find a beautiful shift in your health and wellbeing!

If you feel like anybody would benefit from this message, feel free to spread the love by sharing it!

This is Nancy, your Health Coach, reminding you to just keep progressing on your own journey towards health and wellness!

Cheers!