Words like mindset and gratitude get thrown around a lot these days, and for good reason. In times of uncertainty, maintaining a positive outlook is essential for physical and mental well-being. But what exactly does it mean to have a good mindset, what are the measurable benefits, and what does the science tell us?
A healthy mindset facilitates healthy behaviors and coping strategies, the benefits of which improve mental health and quality of life.
Mindset conditioning and cultivating gratitude go hand-in-hand. Practicing gratitude elevates your sense of appreciation and optimism. This, in turn, reinforces a positive mindset.
In simplest terms, mindset is your unique outlook and perspective of the world. It’s a combination of attitude, reactivity to stress, and philosophical outlook. Your mindset determines your behaviors and how you react to everyday situations.
Some think your mindset is defined only by how you react to negative aspects of your life, but this isn’t true. Your attitude towards joyous occasions and success shapes your mindset as much as your attitude towards stressful or unwanted situations.
Gratitude is a mindset of its own — the abundance mindset, to be specific. When you practice an abundance mindset, you take stock and appreciate the things in life that mean most to you.
In contrast, a “scarcity mindset” means you have a tendency to focus on things you don’t have or worry you may lose. A scarcity mindset stems from a place of fear and anxiety. The best way to move beyond a scarcity mindset is to regularly practice gratitude.
A mindset of gratitude teaches you to pay attention to the little things. Studies have shown that those with a positive mindset feel happier and more fulfilled in their lives, even despite some socioeconomic barriers.1 This supports the old saying; money truly can’t buy happiness.
These two terms, initially coined by Stanford University researcher Carol Dweck2, are opposite ends of an intriguing spectrum.
When you operate under a fixed mindset, you consider yourself at the mercy of your personality. You believe your traits to be concrete and non-negotiable. Sayings like “People never change” or “You either have talent or you don’t” stem from a fixed mindset.
A growth mindset is rooted in fluidity. It means you believe you hold the power to change and evolve into the best version of yourself. That’s not to say you have to change who you are, but it can be empowering to know that you’re capable of changing the things you feel hold you back in life.
Dweck recommends striving for a growth mindset. Research has shown that those who favor a growth mindset do better academically, professionally, and socially.3 That’s because when they identify something in their life that needs improvement, they work to change it. On the other hand, someone with a fixed mindset avoids the thing they believe they aren’t good at. Therefore, they never improve.
The practice of bringing awareness and attention to your mindset is often referred to as mindfulness. By improving your ability to be present and aware, mindfulness teaches you to face those areas of perceived inadequacy and turn them into new strengths. In this way, you can avoid structuring your life around the things you think you can’t do.
Cultivating gratitude is one of the easiest ways to improve and maintain your mindset. A feeling of gratefulness is an obvious benefit, but practicing gratitude can also:
The benefits of practicing a gratitude mindset aren’t limited to the psyche. Numerous studies have shown significant health benefits as well. One study published very recently in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research linked a strong gratitude mindset with reduced blood pressure, improved regulation of blood sugar, better-controlled asthma, and reduced inflammation.5
This mind-body connection is one of the foundations upon which functional medicine was built. You can’t focus on one thing while simultaneously ignoring another. That’s why our team practices medicine that heals both the body and the mind using tools like qigong, stress management, and coaching groups, while simultaneously working on gut health, hormone balance, and chronic inflammation (to name just a few examples).
While the benefits of a good mindset are often touted as the key to professional success and personal development, the effect on physical health is often overlooked.
Exactly how much do mindset and perception affect our body? It’s a question that Alia Crum, PhD, Stanford researcher and Principal Investigator at the Mind and Body Lab, set out to answer, and she stumbled upon something incredible.
In one experiment, Dr. Crum and her team measured ghrelin, a hunger hormone, after participants consumed two milkshakes.6 During the first round, participants were told that the shake was “healthy” and low in calories. A week later, the same group consumed the second shake. This time they were told it was “indulgent” and calorie-rich.
In truth, the shake was exactly the same both times. Since ghrelin levels were thought to drop in proportion to the number of calories consumed, post-consumption levels should have been the same both times. Instead, ghrelin levels dropped almost three times lower after drinking the shake billed as “indulgent” than they had for the “healthy” shake. Perception alone had tricked the brain into thinking it had consumed far more than it had.
This strong influence around perception is what’s known as the placebo effect. Once you strip away the negative connotations attached to this term, you realize how beneficial it can be. Your brain needs your perception of an event in order to formulate an appropriate response, so it waits for your signal.
If our mere perception of something can trigger such a radically different chemical response from the brain, what else is our mindset capable of? These are the questions that the mindset movement is out to answer, and the results are promising.
A focal point of mindset conditioning is stress management. As we cover in our Stressful Times Toolkit, it’s important to distinguish stress management from stress elimination. Having a healthy mindset does not mean you don’t feel stress or that you eliminate all stress. It means you perceive and respond to it in a more advantageous and beneficial way.
In line with Crums’ research, some suggest that our very perception of stress is actually what makes it so bad for our health. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal argues that very point in her book “The Upside of Stress” in which she explains that stress is all about perception.7
McGonigal analyzed a group of people who all reported experiencing high levels of stress on a regular basis. People who consider stress as bad for them are more likely to suffer negative stress-related health implications like cardiovascular disease and insomnia. Those who view stress in a positive light don’t suffer the same stress-related health effects as their peers nearly as often. In fact, these people can better use the stress to grow, adapt, and thrive.
Like the milkshake, it boils down to perception.
Studies have proven the power of our own self-limiting beliefs.8 If you say to yourself “I can never seem to focus”, you eventually find it to be true. The idea behind mindset training is that instead of giving power to self-limiting beliefs, one can turn the tables on the brain to make it easier to achieve what you desire.
The key is to use mindfulness to become aware of the nagging voice in your head, and then using positive affirmations and self-support to accept the need to shift and change for the better. If you’re having a hard time focusing, say to yourself (out loud) that it’s going to be a productive and accomplished day. Or you can also tell yourself “even though I am having trouble focusing right now, I love and appreciate myself just how I am.” Repeat these a few times. You may feel silly, but science has proven that when we say things out loud, it has a more pronounced positive impact.9
Another helpful tool is the morning routine. This is a quick, easy ritual that you perform each morning before starting your day. The benefits can be life-altering.
Some things you can incorporate into your morning routine include:
Have fun building your routine and don’t be afraid to change things up. Find what works best to get yourself centered and ready to take on the day.
Our minds and behaviors have a profound influence on our lives, yet few people take the time and effort to practice true introspection. Trying to solve the challenges of life with a negative mindset is like going out tomorrow morning and trying to run a marathon without training first. It is going to be painful!
Instead of forcing blind positivity, really train your brain to express gratitude and thankfulness. Daily gratitude practice keeps you in this healthy mental state and avoids negative thoughts.
When it comes to wellness, your body and your mind are equally important. CCFM is committed to healing both. For more information on improving your mindset, be sure to check out our Stressful Times Toolkit.
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