Self-Care Tips for Mindset Maintenance

A mindset is a series of self-perceptions or beliefs people hold about themselves. These
determine behaviour, outlook and mental attitude.

Your mindset is how you approach life. It’s made up of your beliefs + your attitude. What’s
going on in your head matters because your stories and your habits create your
reality. Having a mindset self-care routine is as important as looking after yourself physically.
There are many ways to take care of your mindset and it needn’t take up a huge chunk of time.
Daily activities to practice mindset maintainance
1. Cultivate self-awareness – practise tuning in to what’s going on in your mind, especially
when you feel emotionally off-balance or you’re facing a task or situation that challenges you.
Notice what stories you’re holding onto about yourself and your abilities, other people, or the
task or situation in front of you.
When you tune in and become conscious of your thoughts, you switch them from automatic to
manual. This gives you back control because you now have a choice – whether to continue
reacting to a story that might not be helpful, or to deliberately swap it for a belief that is more
constructive.
2. Accept the world and yourself – accepting an awkward situation doesn’t mean you approve
of it. It simply means you’re not wasting time and energy thinking, “I wish this hadn’t
happened”. When you stop fighting the reality of a problem, you free yourself up to concentrate
on working out the best way to resolve it.
In the same way, accepting yourself doesn’t mean condoning your flaws and unhelpful habits. It
means you acknowledge the facts of where you currently are, without judgement, and you’re
able to view yourself, and the situation you’re in, realistically and with compassion. That makes
it easier to decide where you want to be and put together an action plan to help you get there.
3. Pay attention – that’s what mindfulness really comes down to. We exist in a tiny sliver of
“now” that moves along our timeline. We spend our whole lives in that sliver, but how much
attention do we pay to what’s going on in the moment? So often our minds are elsewhere –
mulling over the past or churning over a future that hasn’t happened yet. NOW is all we have
with any degree of certainty. Decide today that you’re going to pay attention to this moment
you’re inhabiting and give it your full attention. You don’t have to judge it. You just have to live
in it, fully aware and present.
4. Carve out time for yourself to be creative – whether art and design is your thing, or music,
or sewing, or doing jigsaws, or turning a room or garden into a beautiful place, giving your
conscious mind a rest and allowing your unconscious to play is brilliant self care. This isn’t a
luxury or an indulgence. Your creativity is part of you and exercising that part of you can
recharge your batteries, strengthen your sense of self and make a good dent in your yearning for
something ‘more’.
5. Give yourself permission to let go – in both senses. Let go by saying “No” no more often to
people, situations and events that don’t serve your mission to be happy and healthy. And let go
by saying “Yes” more often to people, situations and events that are about joy and self care.
6. Make time to meditate – there are so many proven benefits to meditating regularly. It
improves your health and sense of wellbeing. It helps your brain to function better. It has a
positive impact on everything from sleep to work to relationships. There are plenty of ways to
meditate and the simplest is to focus on your breathing and deliberately acknowledge and let go
or any thoughts that appear. Of concentrate on a phrase or mantra that has meaning for you.
7. Book sacred “me-time” in your diary – if you have a partner, agree that you can each have
time every week or month that is yours to do with as you choose. Take a class, go for a walk.
Have a spa day. Go to a library and read. Whatever you choose to do, do it without guilt. This is
a gift to yourself.
It takes time and practice but you’ll soon start to see the benefits. My meditation method of
choice is self-hypnosis. I highly recommend it – get in touch with me if you’d like to learn how.
8. Practise active gratitude – it takes just 5 minutes a day to reflect on what you appreciate
about your life but it’s a life-enhancing habit. Take a look at this post and then treat yourself to
a beautiful journal and make a daily habit of appreciation. I got my beautiful orange leather-
bound journal for a song in TK Maxx – and yes, that did get a gratitude mention on my first
page.