By Dr. Lisa Dunne
How is your mindset affecting your decisions in business, in relationships, in parenting, and in the larger social sphere? More importantly, how can you keep from getting stuck in faulty patterns that can bear a negative impact on personal and professional relationships across the lifespan?
Way back in the 1890s, William James was one of the first psychologists to recognize that goal directed-behavior—aka decisions—were always preceded by a cognitive representation, a thought. Though it seems obvious to us right now, basically, he saw that actions are always preceded by thoughts; what we believe determines how we behave. Our inner and outer worlds are shaped by what we call a mindset.
As the Journal of Integrated Social Sciences notes, mindsets are cognitive biases that are built on access to information, past experiences, and personal relevance, that is, how much value we ascribe to a certain experience.
A mindset is a way of thinking about objects or actions that influences our decision patterns, whether that’s something simple like what we want to eat or something more complex like how we choose to interact with other humans. The most famous modern researcher in the field of mindset is Stanford University professor Dr. Carol Dweck. She coined the terms “growth mindset” and “fixed mindset” years ago to help people see beyond the limitations of some of our belief-to-behavior patterns.
Dweck found that people with fixed mindsets believe that their achievements are based on innate abilities, and because of this, they are often reluctant to take on challenges. People with growth mindsets, on the other hand, believe that they can learn, change, and develop needed skills, and so they are more likely to bounce back from life’s inevitable setbacks. They recognize that hard work can help them accomplish their goals, so they are less likely to get stuck or to resist challenges.
These mindsets can come from childhood: If we were constantly praised for being smart or talented, for example, we can tend to remain stuck in a mindset that relies on a “fixed” set of traits. If we are not expected or allowed to succeed, we can develop a mindset that keeps us stuck. In fact, for parents, if we encourage our kids' efforts, acknowledging their persistence and hard work, we will support their development of a growth mindset—better equipping them to learn, to persevere, and to get back up on the horse when they come tumbling to the ground.
Our mindset can affect our decisions in business, in relationships, in parenting, and in the larger social sphere. Howe about you? Is your mindset fixed or fluid? Is it growth-oriented or static?
“Faith,” as Hebrews 11:1 so poetically defines it, “is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is a mental scaffold, a lens that sharpens the picture of possibility and gives us the courage to take action. What we believe determines how we behave.
Hebrews 11:6 says this, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists AND that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” In other words, it’s not enough to believe in his existence. That’s an incomplete mindset. We also need to believe in his goodness.
In fact, James 2:19 says, “You believe there is one God, good.” Congratulations. But that’s not enough. Who else believes there’s one God? Right, even the demons believe that. And they tremble. Ouch again. The healthy mindset here, faith, is believing in God AND in his goodness. It’s believing that we can do what God’s called us to do. It’s believing that we are more than conquerors, that we have the ability in him to rise above the labels and lies of the culture to become what he has called us to be.
An early American psychologist, Carl Rogers, tells a story from his childhood that I think serves as a powerful metaphor for mindset. Maybe you can relate to his observation. He went down into his cold, Midwest basement in the middle of winter, and he found a forgotten sack of potatoes. What do potatoes do when they are left alone in your pantry or basement? They sprout. Despite the cold basement environment, the potatoes were growing anemic little offshoots that pushed upward toward the only source of light available, a tiny basement window. Shriveled and colorless, the offshoots were, as Rogers put it, “life’s desperate attempts to become itself,” to reach its potential. Like those potatoes, maybe you grew up in a cold, dark environment, whether intentionally or unintentionally, maybe you lacked the basic ingredients needed for healthy emotional and spiritual development. The words spoken over you may have caused pain, fear, hopelessness.
And if that’s the case, then when you look closely at the outer shell of your life, you might see a number of anemic offshoots, attempts you’ve made throughout your life at becoming. Remember the definition of mindset from the beginning of the show? A mindset is a construct of beliefs that influences our decisions. What we believe determines how we behave. Sometimes, personal growth means pruning off the anemic offshoots to make room for transformation. It means cutting back the words, thoughts, and actions in our lives that aren’t bearing good fruit. That’s the transformed mind, the renewed mindset of Romans 12:2. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds.
There are a lot of sociopolitical labels being thrown around right now, labels that are designed to divide, to oppress, to alienate, to polarize. But division and vengeance and strife and bitterness are not kingdom objectives, and sometimes we have to get out of the emotional fray in order to see the evidence-based objective, the end goal that has its roots in kingdom purposes. That’s the big picture. We know a tree by its fruit. So, we want to be careful not to develop a mindset that will cause us to echo the narrative of a fallen and broken world. As one of my pastors says, don’t put your amen to that. Make sure you’re planting the right seeds if you want to reap a harvest of peace, hope, joy, love, and unity.
When we are confronted with a new object, our brains must link it to similar objects and memories that already exist in the brain in order to understand it, to unpack it. That’s why we call the brain a hypothesis machine; it categories and makes estimations based on what it believes to be true. Sometimes the hypothesis is right—if the foundational knowledge base is accurate. However, sometimes the hypothesis is not correct. If our understanding of the experience, the person, the event is filtering through a faulty lens, then our interpretation can be seriously misaligned, especially if our previous memories of similar objects or experiences have been traumatic. As Solomon and Siegel state, “Unhealed, earlier (traumatic experiences) implicitly set the groundwork for all future perceptions” (197).
Our brains literally forge new neural networks based on our mental associations. What we believe internally influences us externally. Our paradigms have power.
We don’t have to stay stuck in limiting belief systems. We serve the God who sees things that are not as though they were. We serve a God who says that same power that raised him from the grave dwells in us. Let’s not get stuck in a mindset that limits his ability, a mindset that embraces a form of godliness but denies, limits, suppresses, his power.
We can be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We can literally rewire our brains by learning to see him for who he really is, our provider, our refuge, our strength. And we can use that same principle to assess and address mindsets that may be negatively affecting our individual, organizational, or interpersonal relationships.
Mindsets of scarcity, fear, and lack are running rampant in the next generation. You can help! Pastors, you play a vital role in rescuing the outsourced generation by opening your building to create community and support for homeschool families. Just go to AcademicRescueMission.com and click the Start an Academy tab. We can have your church-based homeschool outreach running in four weeks anywhere in the US!
Parents, learn more about the K to college approach from homeschool support to college classes and our new partner program offering fully accredited undergraduate AND graduate degrees right here on our CVCU campus! DM me @DrLisaDunne or visit us at CVCU.us to see how we are taking back education for the next generation.
Let’s take the necessary steps so we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds—and let’s model this mental posturing of hope and faith for the next generation. Your mindset matters.
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