Day 2,077

Dominic’s team ran very hard in the 4x800m relay at State today, but their competition was a bit faster. He and his teammates were already putting together plans for their training plan to get on the podium next year. Pretty awesome to pause and consider how well they did and their growth mindset and grit.

Throughout the past week my thoughts have been going back to the book Awareness by Anthony de Mello. Absolutely fantastic read, one I would HIGHLY recommend to everyone. This was I think the fourth time going through it and each time I learn more and more (pretty sure I just blogged about that a little bit ago).

What really jumped out over the past week has been an awareness of a few different thought processes – identity, labels, and certainty. In so many ways each of these three can quickly slide from being somewhat beneficial to highly destructive. When I am “certain” about something I’m more likely to use a fixed mindset rather than a growth mindset. When I know my “identity” I am much less likely to listen to be flexible and open minded to new things and situations. When I use “labels” I miss seeing something for what it truly is and see the label instead.

While it has been easy for me to see others engaging in each of these (isn’t that always the case), I’m starting to see these patterns in myself much more quickly. The awareness of these three negatives has been helping me pause and ask myself “why” many more times than normal. I find I’m spending more time in thought about my actions and thought processes and this is helping me learn much more about myself. What I’m learning is very frustrating as it seems the gap between who I am and who I should be is wider than I realized, but at the same time I’m even more optimistic as the solutions seem relatively simple once I take time to be more aware of my thoughts, to be more intentional.

Thanks!!!