THINK DIFFERENTLY TO DEFY THE ODDS

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“Thought precedes action, as lightning does thunder.” —Heinrich Heine

MINDSETS MAY HELP OR HINDER OUR PROGRESS

Although we may not have made formal new year resolutions, in the back of our minds, we might be thinking: This year I’m going to improve my … (fill in the blank). Still, whether our personal-improvement objectives are formal or informal, the odds of achieving them are low. If we want to defy these odds and make real progress, choosing a better approach is useful—one that begins with replacing misleading thought patterns about what we want to improve.

Thought patterns are mindsets that we sometimes unknowingly create; they influence and control many of our decisions and actions. For example, reading about the best doughnuts, pizza, hot wings, hot dogs, and ice cream in our local news media’s Best of the Year competition reminded me of the sirens’ songs in Homer’s Odyssey. Writer Norman Fischer describes sirens as “those enchanting sisters whose eerie songs irresistibly draw you in. Once in their clutches there’s no escaping the doom they bring.” The photos and food descriptions were so attractive that it was hard to remember how tiny their nutritional value was. As readers or viewers, we are drawn into—and may adopt on some level—the fantasy that consuming tasty foods of low nutrient value does not have a negative impact on our health. Repeated exposure to these types of ideas nurtures misleading and health-depleting mindsets that drive health-depleting actions.

Although alluring, much of the advertising we’re exposed to fosters mindsets that imperceptibly work against our desire to attain and enjoy high levels of health. As writer Bess Streeter Aldrich puts it: “Thoughts are acrobats, agile and quite often untrustworthy.” Once we realize that consuming nutrient-poor foods negatively impacts our health, such promotions are less enticing, and it is easier for us to choose and enjoy consuming more beneficial foods.

Mindsets are like currents in a flowing body of water; they facilitate movement in certain directions. Like swimming upstream, attempting to implement new health practices without replacing unhelpful mindsets saps our energy and causes us to tire. Sooner or later, we give up and quit. Fortunately, if we’re strategic, we can choose another current that will get us where we want to go with a lot more ease, speed, and energy. Our decision to choose that helpful current from the start is a power move.

THINK DIFFERENTLY TO DEFY THE ODDS

At first, it might seem easier to register for a fitness class than to work on reshaping intangible thinking patterns. But establishing a health-building mindset dramatically increases success with adopting tangible health practices. It’s a powerful foundational practice that can be learned and mastered. Unfortunately, there are few classes that teach how to create health-building mindsets, but the tips below can help us make progress on our own.

How to create a health-building mindset:

    • Tip 1: Recognize that our advertising culture creates health-depleting mindsets. Actively resist making these market-driven thought patterns our own.

    • Tip 2: Upgrade our mindsets by intentionally focusing on valid health-building topics and information.

    • Tip 3: Embrace foundational principles—e.g., it’s natural to be healthy, health must be cultivated or it diminishes, measuring health is more useful than measuring illness—for inspiration, guidance, and protection.

A BETTER APPROACH

Our health-improvement efforts mostly fail when we are not fully prepared as we begin to implement them. But if we step back and devote our initial efforts on establishing a health-building mindset, we will remove a persistent barrier and increase our odds for success. While the elements of a health-building mindset are not readily available to the public, they are a linchpin of the High Health Network’s expert approach for growing health. The Network enables its members to swim with the current, defy the odds of failure, and sustain success.

If you or your company want to change direction and swim with the current instead of against it, contact us today to get started.

Joyce M. Young, MD, MPH
Managing Director, Advanced Wellness Systems
Lead Expert for the High Health Network

Photo by Nicholas Githiri  on Pexels

“All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts.”
—James Allen

Sincerely,
Your colleagues at Advanced Wellness Systems