Stop and think…

Stop and think – for just one minute……….. How can we be better? 

Psychologist Professor Carol Dweck coined the term ‘growth mindset’ when she researched how people’s underlying beliefs about themselves, and their abilities can affect their lives. She wrote a series of books – bought this many years ago, it got lost, so I bought it again this year, it helped support my way of thinking then and still does today.   

The view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life.  It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value.  

Following a few life changes (and COVID!), perhaps our worlds slowed right down. In years gone by, we could never foresee an event of becoming locked in a fixed mindset.  So being in this place may be very unknown.  I can only equate it as entropy that needs to be re arranged.  We are not at our destination ….. YET.  This is a journey.   

We seek a great deal of belonging, with its patience and beauty to the outside world.  

During his meditation under the sacred Bodhi tree, the Buddha saw that everything, from the tiniest speck of dust to the rest of the universe, is linked together in a constantly changing pattern.  Everything is related and everything that happens influences everything else.    

Referring to the book – The growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts, your strategies and with the help from others.    

Words of praise; “well done”, “you can do this” and “great work”.  You see, Praise moulds the mindset. 

Perhaps you have children, friends, partners, colleagues that need words of encouragement and motivation. Let us face it – we all do.  

Just learning about growth mindset can cause a big shift in the way people think about themselves and their lives.  The meaning of Effort and Difficulty has different meanings to mindsets.   Unlocking the potential to succeed isn’t a free ride. There are many things you couldn’t possibly know yet and that you’d better start finding out about. 

Try, fail, try harder, smile, try again, and succeed. We get better, we improve until we succeed.  When you aren’t coping with failure, you still feel just as worthy and optimistic, bright, and attractive.    

Mohamed Ali did not have the natural physique of a boxing champion, in fact his technique was said to be “all wrong”, but it was his sharp mind that won the knockouts, not his fist.    

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Your hands can’t hit, what your eyes can’t see”. 

Michael Jordan – perhaps the hardest working sportsman of all time – a genius that constantly upgraded his genius, always preparing for the next game. Learning and improving – it’s not about the winning. 

Question – Are we attuned to learning and constructive action? Do we all stop and think – at the end of the day – ‘What could I have done better?’ People with a growth mindset are constantly monitoring what’s going on. 

There is a project that we have followed over the months, be attentive to the spur of individuals who are focussed on challenges faced to save our natural world.  You see, the great Pacific Ocean faces ruin from discarded plastic, human refuse, and ghost nets, which pollute, kill and detain marine life. It was first discovered in the 1990s and has become a global issue, but not one country sought to take any responsibility. A perishing thought, the great Pacific garbage patch, well, there’s five of them! 

System 001, 002, a non-profit ocean clean-up system is about become 003, engineered to collect and retain even more plastic per trip. With a foreseeable plan for a fleet of 60 systems! Their aim is to capture at least 90% of ocean plastic by 2040 – the largest clean-up in history! A job that no one ever thought to be possible. Ocean scientists and experts doubted the project.  – When most think that there’s no remedy for the state of our natural world, there are many who can prove us wrong.  Noteworthy to say, we love to prove people wrong!

The power of mindsets and what happens when the right people get together, at the right time, the impossible can become obtainable.  

Whenever we can, wherever we can, we can all play our part. We can all be influenced and be the influences on others. And never forget the vitality and resilience of the natural world can be very powerful.