Hello friends. This is Mohanji.
Hope you’re doing well and hope you’re digesting the subjects that we had chosen in the last few podcasts and hope they are helpful to you. Today, I was thinking of taking up a subject which you can use as food for thought.
The subject is a mindset. Mindset is not an easy subject, because it’s not easy to put the mind structure into compartments. But it’s important because that is the advantage of understanding ourselves more so that we can remove all the clutter and we can bring clarity. This is the advantage. The more clarity we have, life will be cleaner; life will be better. Otherwise, confusions and clutter can take over.
So, what are the major mindsets that we see in this world? Let’s categorize them into two. One is a fixed mindset, and the other is a flexible mindset or a growth mindset.
The fixed mindset, they usually avoid challenges, they don’t like challenges. Then they hate changes, they like fixed routines. If any change happens, even if it’s a change in material like food on the table, they become unhappy, they become upset; their life pattern changes. So, they can’t leave patterns. They are very, very bound to patterns. They hate changes. They also think they can do very little to change the situation. Then, they do not like criticism, they don’t accept criticism. If somebody comes and tells them, “Look here, why don’t you make a difference in your life? Why don’t you try this? Why don’t you try something new?”, they can’t accept it. Because they are sure what they’re doing is the right thing. And they won’t look at a person or any friendship or any connection favourably if they are starting to interfere in their life. For example, if somebody tries to correct them or makes a change in their life for the better, even that will not be accepted because they don’t like an intervention. They want to stay in their own comfort zones, they are very, very afraid to leave that comfort zone, to leave their pattern. They only see obstacles. They see obstacles all the time because for them, “Oh, this is a problem, that’s a problem”; they always discuss problems. And they try to tell people that people are not right, the situation is not right, problems are happening, like that they will always think about problems. Then they also feel that putting efforts are useless because life happens anyway. Why do you put a lot of effort? This is a fixed mindset. A lot of people are like that in the world. They just live and die. Anonymous, we won’t even see them, because they have a fixed mindset, and they are kind of like how the animals live; the routine life. That’s it. If anything just happened in their life, they are upset. They don’t like changes.
Now we look at the flexible mindset. They welcome challenges. “Bring it on”, you know, that attitude. And they embrace changes. When changes happen, they just melt into the changes. Then they think everything is possible. There is nothing impossible in life, they think impossibility is an illusion, we can do it. If somebody can do it, we can do it. If there’s a thought, we can make it happen. If there is a firm wish or a desire, it can be accomplished. They treasure feedback and would learn eagerly; they like to have feedback. They ask, “What do you think about this?” or “Can we improve on it?” and they use everything, or every faculty, or every connection so that they can improve in some way. So, every day, they think about what else can we do? How we can improve this? How we can make the standards better? It’s not maintenance anymore. They are builders, they can build. They don’t worry about what’s already happened. But in their mind, they’re always thinking, “What else we can do, what else can happen?” So, they are always on a mode of improvement, or they try to upgrade everything. So, they like feedback, and they want to change things in a positive way. They love exploring new things and they look at results. Their focus is, “This is my aim, I want to reach there,” and they reach there. Obstacles on the way, it doesn’t matter. There will be obstacles, there will be detours in life. No problem. They keep moving. And every failure for them is a lesson.
So, this is approximately how a person with a flexible mindset thinks. It’s a good thought for us so that we understand where we stand, you know. So, there are a few things which we can check to see where we are in these two categories. Are we from the category of a fixed mindset, or are we from the category of a flexible mindset? So, a few things you can look at is; are we lazy? How do you measure that?
The time when you wake up, and the time when you get up. So when you wake up, if you’re lying in the bed thinking about “Oh my God! It’s morning again.” That’s a lazy attitude, means purpose is not very clear. There’s no clarity of purpose. This is one of the signs you can look at. That’s why we started the Early Birds Club with definite clarity. When you wake up, you are sharp, you have a fixed schedule so you can wake up and you can go through the process so that laziness, the tamas part can be slowly taken away. Please don’t underestimate tamas. Tamas is a very, very dangerous thing. It’s like cancer, we wouldn’t even know that it’s existing inside until and unless we become completely paralyzed. That’s why the Early Birds Club I’m stressing on and I’m telling people to try that because you know, that way you can change your mode from a lazy or a fixed mindset to a flexible mindset, and also attain a lot of success in life. Our aim is to create successful people; positive people. For positivity, you need to have a positive lifestyle.
So, are we lazy? Secondly, are we restless and distracted all the time? That means we do not have a stable mindset, stability is affected. If you are restless and if you are distracted all the time, the mind is like a monkey jumping from one branch to the other. We are disappointed with so many things; we are distracted in various ways. Then it is time we get to something which inspires us from within; concentrate on it. This is important.
So, what can we do about it? We can try to find something which is self-enhancing; self-rejuvenation, self-inspiration, this kind of thing, which would be a thing connected to your nature, and your own inherent constitution, how you are made. It is based on your inclination, your tendencies. That’s what’s suitable for you. Cultivate that thing, then you can improve on it, but it should be something positive. Not something negative, which is draining or which costs a lot of money or efforts and stuff like that. Whatever is natural will be effortless for you. So that’s the right thing to do. Usually, if you are preoccupied with unimportant things, for example, some people are just addicted to WhatsApp or Facebook; they waste the whole day like that. Some people are addicted to games on the computer. Some people have other material addictions and all kinds of things.
So, our waking hours, how best are we using? If we are preoccupied with the not so important things that detach us and deviates us from the actual purpose of life, then we must correct it. Because, what are you here for, what is your actual purpose? Let’s say, if your purpose is liberating yourself completely so that you are fine with life, you’re not in conflict with life, you’re very stable with life, you’re enjoying life, you’re accepting life, you’re respecting life, and then, respecting all the people connected to you. You’re not discriminating, you’re not criticizing, you’re not trying to push people away, you’re accepting everybody, you’re kind of walking with them and you’re in a mode of liberation. Let’s say, a mode of liberation means a lifestyle of liberation. In that case, don’t wander on insignificant things. We must understand that they are not helping us to progress.
But recreation is fine once in a while, we can watch a feature film, we can have a good dinner outside. I’m not saying that we avoid all our happiness, all our enjoyments. We should look at, are we spending a lot of time on unimportant things?
Another thing is, is our energy flow proper? How does energy flow become proper? First of all, if you indulge in positive things, positive thoughts, positive words, positive action, energy flow will be good. Secondly, if you are involved in activities which you love to do, energy flow will be good. But what you love to do should adhere to your goal of life. This is very important. What you love to do, should not be something which wastes your energy, like indulgences and addictions. Many people spend a lot of time on addictions, even though energy flow might be good, but it’s not positive.
Then another point is, your thought process, you have no control. Where are the thoughts coming from? Thoughts are coming from inherent inclinations, so be aware of that. And if you’re able to regulate and guide them to the goal all the time; or as we mentioned earlier, our goal is liberation. If our thoughts are all going towards that goal, you’re on the right track because you have set a goal, you’ve set your destination right. So, if you’re travelling in that mode, and your energy flow is in that mode, your thoughts are in that mode, you are absolutely on the right track. This is all you need to do.
Now, I would sum up so that it becomes food for thought. All these ingredients we have to cook together and make a nice, tasty curry. So, first of all, analyze, where you stand. Do you have a fixed mindset or a flexible mindset? Secondly, how do you know where you stand? We have explained, various options for it. We can explain more later but this I don’t want to elaborate too much. And thirdly, this understanding will help you to correct yourself to the right track.
So, there are more things, we will talk about next time. I leave you with this thought at this point in time. Let’s understand, and let’s assimilate, and let’s improve ourselves in the right way. I leave you with these thoughts. Be happy, and be bright, the world needs light.
Lots of love.
Transcribed by Ulla Bernholdt
Proofread by Rekha Murali
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