”Be humble enough to know that you’re far from perfect, and confident enough to know you can do almost anything you set your mind to.”

Having a strong mindset is crucial in order to navigate through life with confidence, clarity and a deep sense of trust within oneself. However, what characterises a strong, empowered mindset, and what can you do to develop one?

Every step forward, and every action, however small, is one step closer to where you’d like to be. Take the blindfold off, stay curious and walk with an open heart. It’s very common that we choose to stay in our little comfort zone, simply because it gives us a sense of security. People may become comfortable with having a job they hate, being stuck in a dysfunctional relationship, having feelings of sadness and underestimating oneself. In order to change something in your life you’ve to change yourself – you’ve to change your way of thinking. And lastly, you’ve to change where you put your attention.

Where attention goes energy flows

Where does your attention usually drift? Are you obsessing over what someone else is thinking about you? Are the internal conversations you have with yourself usually self-deprecating? Are you solely focusing on the negative things in your life? If you answered yes to these questions it’s about time that you reassess, and start prioritizing self-awareness.

Everything you need – the courage, the strength, compassion and love – is closer than you think. You don’t have to look far – you have to look within. It’s easy to believe that we grow strength by being around encouraging people, not to mention receive love by getting it from other people. And while that is truly important to us humans (to feel connected, loved and encouraged) you need to bear in mind that, in the end, it’s only you who have the innate power. Never expect anything from anyone. Love, confidence and trust are built from within. If you don’t love yourself it will become very difficult, if not impossible, to accept true love from another person. You can’t control what other people think or say about you, and you can’t control every circumstance in your life. However, the thing you do have control over is how you respond to other people, and to the situations brought to you in your life.

While there are many characteristics of a strong mindset I believe the most important quality besides attention is self-awareness.

Use the hours with softness

Where are you, right now, in this moment? How does your body feel? How is your breathing? Heavy? Light? What do you see? Smell? Hear?

You can’t travel back in time and change the past, and you can’t force the future to unfold a certain way. But one thing you can do, is to take control over the present moment. How would you like to spend the now? How would you like to feel now? Learn to just sit with yourself, in the present moment.

When we feel out of sync with the mind and body we easily start feeling tired, unmotivated and stressed. Nowadays I notice rather quickly when it happens, and I’ve learned what I need, in order to feel more grounded and peaceful again.

-> Whenever I need to be refreshed or renewed I spend time alone, in stillness, use the hours with softness and show appreciation to the present moment.

There is no place more powerful than the present moment. However, most of us use this moment to think about the past or worry about the future. Very seldom we actually embrace all the wonderful things happening right now. Are you spending time with a loved one? Show gratitude. Are you lying on the couch, chilling at night? Show gratitude. Are you smelling the roses, enjoying a neat and tidy apartment? Show gratitude. Are you in nature? Show gratitude.

The now is all we have, and the moment we learn to use it wisely, we’ll be one step closer to a brighter, more content future.

Your future is created now.

❤