Your Chosen Mindset And Your Perception Are Crucial in How You See The World We Live In

 

The keywords here are perception and mindset: The way you choose to see things will help you or hinder you. When you see things in a positive light, you have a tendency to see the “good” in things first, and you often see what you have gained. When you have a negative mindset, you tend to see what is missing first, and you tend to dwell on what you have lost.

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change.” – Wayne Dyer

You have two choices: You can be positive or you can be negative. Actually, you have a lot of choices in between positive and negative. Or you can also be super positive OR super negative.

Let us take the example of the “glass half empty” or “glass half full” argument. This is a test that psychologists use to determine whether a person has a negative or positive tendency. A person who sees the glass as half empty is said to be negative. An individual, who says the glass is half-full is perceived to be a positive person. However, anyone can say one thing and mean another thing. Saying that the glass is half full is not a guarantee that the person is really positive. There are different interpretations and different perceptions unique to most individuals. We are all unique.

How sure are we that there are only 2 tendencies, positive and negative? Is there nothing in between these two or beyond these two polar opposites? What do we call someone who is neutral or just “in-between” positivity or negativity? How accurate is this test, really? The test just labels people who answer; the glass is “half empty” as negative and those who say the glass is “half full” as positive.

If someone asks you an open-ended question, how you answer is completely your own way of answering. The answer to such a question can be very long or very short. You answer according to how you perceive the world. You see the world through a lens that you have, and it is called your perception or mindset.

An open-ended question, by the way, cannot be answered by a simple yes or no. An open-ended question inspires answers through imagination, through how we see the world and our place in it.

Let us go back to the glass of water test. This time the person who conducts the test proceeds to ask you, please tell me what you see? This time, there is no glass half full or glass half empty choice. Now comes the fun part.

Different people may answer differently to this open-ended question. Some would say: I see water that I can drink. I see clean water. I’m thirsty; I want that life-giving water now. I see dirt in the water inside the glass. I see a beautifully crafted glass. I see something floating in the water. I see bubbles in the water. I see my future reflected in the water. I see scratches on the glass. And of course, the answers can have infinite variations too. Perception is how we see things. It is the lens from which we see the world and anything within it. Who is to say that the different answers are right or wrong? The question was open-ended and it specifically just asked: Tell me what you see?

Let’s go back to the quotation: “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change.” This is not limited to positive or negative anymore. Any person may choose to see it in various other ways.

However the message is still the same, different people see things differently. People have diverse perspectives and sensitivity to various stimuli. Perception is what shapes how people see things. It forms or creates their reality and it helps them develop their imagination. Some people are more sensitive to words, events, the truth, the possibilities, the quest, or to other people. Some people are more inclined to see things according to their prejudice, stereotypes, priorities, beliefs, and mindsets. They see firsthand, what they value most because that is what they are targeting to see. They are looking for “something.”

Here are some of my personal takeaways when it comes to various perceptions or mindsets: Try to SEE where you identify the most and then mentally choose which ones are great for you to have and develop.

 

Positive VS Negative mindset

When we have a Positive Mindset, we have a tendency to look at things under a positive light. We see the good things first and foremost, we tend to find solutions and look for what is useful in our everyday life. Positive people usually give compliments. Finding goodness in anything or in anyone gives us joy. We are happy looking for what is good and advantageous. We see benefits in various things. We attract good people and good opportunities to come into our lives. This makes us grateful and happy. When asked what do you want in life? You normally answer I want to be happy. I want to love and be loved. I want to be free. I want to make a difference in the world. I want to be a better version of me. I want to be a good son… and the answers go on a positive path.

Positive people usually think and speak this way

• Yes I can do it
• It is challenging, bring it on!
• I will find out
• It is possible
• I like this
• I love this
• FEAR for them means Face Everything And Rise!
• You find reasons

When you have a Negative Mindset, you tend to see what is ugly, what is bad or what is missing right from the beginning. You see problems when you are faced with an opportunity. You resist opportunities and you will not see opportunities even when they are staring at you point blank. Sometimes, when an opportunity is undeniably in your face, you say, what’s the catch? Haters who bash people, those who always find fault with others and anything in general practice this mindset. You will always see what is wrong and automatically find mistakes without effort, and tend to see what you don’t like. You tend to whine, complain, overly criticize, and you feel like you are the victim. Well, yes, you are a victim, a victim of your own chosen mindset. You attract the negative into your life because that is what you are looking for, that is what you choose to see and without realizing it, it is the lens (a dirty and distorted one) that you are using to see the world. Your reality is focused on the negative. When asked what do you want in life? Negative people answer in terms of what they don’t like. I don’t want to be angry. I don’t want to be sad. I don’t want to talk to stupid people. I don’t want to see bad things from happening. I don’t want to be unhappy (See the words? Double negatives don’t make a positive in real life, only in grammar. It would have been simpler and direct to the point to say I want to be happy instead of I don’t want to be unhappy. See the clear difference?) … and the list of complaining and blaming others goes on.

Negative people usually think and speak this way:

• No, I can’t do it Or I’m not sure if I can
• It is difficult, It is so hard.
• I don’t know
• It is impossible
• I don’t like this
• I hate this
• FEAR for them means Forget Everything And Run away!
• You make excuses

 

The Other Mindsets

1. The Questioning Mindset allows you to think critically. With this mindset, you tend to imagine and question different angles. You formulate “what if” scenarios to find better alternatives. You are always curious and looking for answers to personal, social and worldly mysteries. Discovering and verifying answers for you is highly important. When you receive news or information about something, you tend to check if it is fact or fiction. When you read something new, you analyze and check if it contradicts or supports your beliefs. You ask yourself, is this true? Am I wrong? Then you try to verify and investigate. Is this information from a reputable and trusted source? You are a natural explorer and seeker of adventures and truth. The TV series, Star Trek, said it best: To boldly go where no man has gone before.

 

2. The Growth or Learning Mindset is an amazing thing to have. You love adventures and new things to learn and explore. You tend to see lessons from mistakes. You thrive when you are faced with new encounters and challenges. New discoveries and realizations bring you joy. You search for new angles to consider when faced with old challenges. You have an “open cup” mentality, meaning your mind is open and willingly accepting when you encounter something interesting. You are constantly trying to refine what you have learned. Growth hacking for you is life. When you have a closed mind or you are not yet ready to listen or learn, no one can help you, no matter how hard they try. However, when you are focused and determined to learn, no force on Earth can stop you!

 

3. The Strategic Mindset allows you to see variations in points of attack, contingency plans, successful outcomes and creating countermeasures. Your mind is always playing chess mentally, you are regularly thinking of alternate options and a number of possible best moves to take. Using your imagination combined with experience is one of your strongest skill sets. You feel alive when there is something for you to analyze or experiment with. Then you celebrate your victories when you create new ideas and strategies for your new objectives. This is how many inventors and entrepreneurs usually think. For them, Innovation is life.

 

4. The Artistic Mindset sees creativity in anything, there is always freedom of expression. You are able to create or uncover the beauty or “truth” in many things and situations. You can create something new and useful. You have the ability to use any medium for your artistic expression which could be anything within the universe! You are able to create something from nothing. Bring out the best from something and create awesome masterpieces! These creations include beautiful music, woodcraft, metal craft, love craft, earth craft, ice craft, or it can be in the form of writing, singing, dancing, inventing and even a new way of thinking. Creating something new and beautiful and true often brings you joy.

Take note that various artists in history have already invented different ways to express themselves and bring forth into the world quite a lot of thought-provoking and positively inspiring designs. Their minds and actions have given birth to paintings, sculptures, bridges, buildings, artifacts, manuscripts, songs, books, and an abundance of amazing things. Who knows, in the future some high tech artist would create beautiful art or art-inspired creations in the sky (CGI or computer generated images and holograms are possible nowadays), in the oceans (like the underwater Gungan structures in Star Wars) or in outer space (think about starships for exploration and moon colonies). Can you imagine those things and more?

 

5. The Perfectionist Mindset sees either perfection or imperfection. He or she only sees extremes, there is no middle ground. It is just perfect or it is not. Be careful of this mindset for it is a trap. It is gift-wrapped as a positive mindset by many people in the past, but the hard truth is that perfection puts limits on what you can do. This is a negative mindset. As a perfectionist, you prefer to work within your comfort zone. You are afraid to take risks and make mistakes because one wrong move means you will not achieve perfection. You are afraid to disappoint a lot of people (yourself included) with your perceived imperfection. Wake up, nobody is perfect. A person cannot be perfect, if you think you are perfect or can become perfect then you are drowning yourself in delusions of grandeur. Our flaws and “rough edges” are the things that make us human. You are not a perfectly cut diamond. But each one of us is like a diamond in the rough or a gem of our own making, just needing more time and experience to be refined and polished. You do not live in a perfect world. You will never be perfect and that is perfectly fine because it means you are human. You are allowed to make mistakes. Do not set yourself for failure using this mindset. Aim for excellence instead because that will bring you joy and give your life more meaning.

 

6. The Excellence Mindset is a wonderful thing. A mind that is attuned to “excellence” always sees the best in things. You find better ways to tackle new challenges. You seek to constantly improve. You celebrate small victories and that makes you grow more. Every bit of growth, each new discovery, and each new challenge surpassed, no matter how small, still matters in your book because excellence is a culmination of all the mistakes encountered with lessons realized and new experiences valued. You improve on anything that matters to you most. You reflect on mistakes and realize new things. Each failure is merely another stepping stone towards success. Every small step you take towards improvement goes a long way. For you, the journey matters more than the destination (excellence). You are not afraid to make and accept your mistakes and venture forth into the unknown because you are confident that you will be able to push forward and give your best in most conditions like you always do. You do your best because it gives you joy and it is the right thing to do. You uphold the value of always doing your best to get the best possible results. Your positive mindset and the actions you take will create opportunities.

 

7. The Service Mindset is about helping others. This is usually used by service-oriented entrepreneurs today. They aim to provide quality service to people, and they want to help change the world in positive ways of course. They make their own paths towards this goal in mind. Think of the quality service that Jollibee, a Filipino company is known for. Their service crew is famously known for being one of the friendliest and most caring people in the business. And customers love this extra value they get from this fast food chain company.

The Service Mindset is also adopted by the brave, the selfless, and good-hearted people in the military and its other branches. They defend our country, our freedom and our lives from threats both foreign and domestic. I give my heartfelt thanks and I salute the good people (my dad included) in the military for they are the unsung heroes who deserve the honor, national recognition, and our prayers of protection and goodwill. Let us pause for a few moments to give them thanks and offer them a short prayer. May God and the Universe protect them and bless them.

 

To make a long story short, the same event or situation that happens to the same group of people may have a different meaning to each individual depending on his or her mindset or perceptions. They may see the value in the experience or just complain about it. They may learn something from it or just ignore it. They may just wait for things to happen instead of being proactive about it and actually do something positive from the event. They may choose to whine and say a litany of negative things OR they can choose to look for the good and say positive things from that same event or situation. They may only see drawbacks or disadvantages because they are pessimists and that is how they are wired. Optimists hunt for the good things and they realize there are new advantages or opportunities from the experience. The choice is always yours. The reality you create is always yours to shape. Choose to believe in the power of thought and the happiness advantage and experience more awesome things to come.

The bottom line is that each person has a choice. There is always a better way in most things. You have a choice in how you see and perceive things, people, events or situations. Your mindset matters a lot in. Be mindful of how you think and how you choose to think. Your thoughts create your reality shaping how you see the world and the people living in it. What happens next is up to you.

Are you ready to improve your mindset? Go ahead, make your choices and make them positive and great ones!

If you liked this blog post please like and share. If it has helped you in some way, go ahead, and make your choice.

Have an awesome day!