Mindset and Eternity

In this newsletter:
- Mindset
- Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
- Alfred Binet - IQ test creator
- Mindset test 
- Cultivating a growth mindset
- What happens after death?
- Space and time in the eternal world
- Whiskey in the Jar, by Thin Lizzy

Mindset

“Think about your hero. Do you think of this person as someone with extraordinary abilities who achieved with little effort? Now go find out the truth. Find out the tremendous effort that went into their accomplishment—and admire them more."
- Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.

Think about yourself. Those times when you put in effort and it didn't work. Failure and rejection can be painfully depressing.

Consider these rejections (from EFR.org):

- Walt Disney, was fired from his job at the Kansas City Star because the editor said he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”

- Stephen King, early in his writing career, nearly gave up after being rejected by 30 publishers. To date, he’s sold close to half a billion books.

- Oprah Winfrey was fired from her position as a TV anchor in Baltimore. The producer said she was “unfit for television.”

Getting fired or declined can be devastating to some people, completely derailing them. 

For others, it can kick-start flames of desire; igniting a fury of passion and determination.

Why do some people break, while others carry on? 

How we approach our setbacks makes us or breaks us; it depends on our mindset.

We go through episodes of looking at the down side, not the upside; the dark side, not the bright side; seeing the negatives, not the positives; being closed-minded, not open-minded. This is human nature.

Well-Being, however, depends on optimizing this eternal balancing. As Emerson said, "The measure of mental health is the disposition to find good everywhere." 

Bouncing back is the name of the game. 

“The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.”
- Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. 

Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.

Carol S. Dweck is an American psychologist and professor at Stanford University. She has researched and taught on the topics of motivation and mindset for over 30 years. Prior to joining Stanford in 2004, she was a faculty member at Harvard, Columbia, and University of Illinois.

Dweck has received many awards, and since 2012 has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences. NAS was formed in 1863. Abraham Lincoln was one of the founders.

Becoming a NAS member is a big deal. Current members elect new members based on distinguished achievements in original research. It's one of the highest honors in the scientific world. 

Consider Professor Dweck's book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.

In her book, Dweck does a marvelous job of helping us understand her widely accepted interpretations of two mindsets.

- Fixed mindset – Is the view that intelligence comes from "nature." It’s what you’re born with, and it doesn’t change, even with effort. Intelligence comes from our genes, our genetic composition. 

- Growth mindset – Is the view that intelligence comes from "nurture." It can be cultivated over time with effort. Intelligence comes form our environment, our experiences.

Dweck's book is filled with examples of well-known people, those with fixed-mindsets, those with growth-mindsets.

"John McEnroe had a fixed mindset: He believed that talent was all. He did not love to learn. He did not thrive on challenges; when the going got rough, he often folded. As a result, by his own admission, he did not fulfill his potential...people with the fixed mindset have to nurse their confidence and protect it. That's what John McEnroe's excuses were for: to protect his confidence."

"Michael Jordan was a growth-minded athlete par excellence...Jordan knew how hard he had worked to develop his abilities. He was a person who had struggled and grown, not a person who was inherently better than others." 

Dweck believes the mind can change with effort and persistence. We can learn to be more growth-oriented. 

For millennia, experts have wondered why people seem to have different levels of intelligence. Is it genes or environment? Nature or nurture? 

Let's go back in time, to France.  

Alfred Binet - IQ test creator  

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Alfred Binet (1857 - 1911), the creator of the first IQ test, believed that education and practice could raise intelligence. He did not believe the IQ test summarized unchangeable intelligence.

In 1904, the French Ministry of Education asked Binet, a Frenchman, to devise a method to determine which students were not effectively learning from regular classroom instruction so that new educational programs could be developed for them, a nod that children have learning differences and the French schools could improve. 

Here is a quote from a book written by Binet (from Mindset):

“A few modern philosophers…assert that an individual’s intelligence is a fixed quantity, a quantity which cannot be increased. We must protest and react against this brutal pessimism…. With practice, training, and above all, method, we manage it increase our attention, our memory, our judgment and literally to become more intelligent than we were before.”

Dweck adds:

“From conception on, there’s a constant give-and-take between the two [genes and environment]. For thirty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life."

This graphic is from EFR.org:

Mindset Test
Fixed-Mindset or Growth-Mindset?

In the book Mindset, Dweck sets forth this self-evaluation for your own mindset:

Intelligence Test
For each of the following intelligence statements, decide whether you mostly agree or mostly disagree.
Statements 1 and 2 reflect a fixed-mindset. Statements 3 and 4 reflect a growth-mindset.

1. Your intelligence is something very basic about you that you can’t change very much.

2. You can learn new things, but you can’t really change how intelligent you are.

3. No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it quite a bit.

4. You can always substantially change how intelligent you are.

Personality Test
For each of the following personality statements, decide whether you mostly agree or mostly disagree.
Statements 1 and 3 reflect a fixed-mindset. Statements 2 and 4 reflect a growth-mindset.

1.You are a certain kind of person, and there is not much that can be done to really change that.

2. No matter what kind of person you are, you can always change substantially.

3. You can do things differently, but the important parts of who you are can’t really be changed.

4. You can always change basic things about the kind of person you are.

Dweck writes:
“We were trying to understand why some students were so caught up in proving their ability, while others could just let go and learn. Suddenly we realized that there were two meanings to ability, not one: a fixed ability that needs to be proven, and a changeable ability that can be developed through learning.”

Cultivating a growth-mindset 

Most of us have some areas where we have a fixed-mindset and other areas with a growth mindset. The key for Well-Being is to continually lean toward a growth-mindset.

To cultivate a growth-mindset we need to change our internal monologue from a "judging one" to a "growth-oriented one." 

How do we change from a fixed-mindset to a growth-mindset? 

- Awareness: When we avoid challenges, give up easily, or feel threatened by others' success we have a fixed-mindset. Self-awareness is key. 

- Embrace challenges: Challenges allow us to grow. Difficulties are a learning opportunity.

- Put in the effort: Effort is a path to mastery. Abilities are developed through perseverance and hard work.

- Grow from setbacks: Failing provides valuable lessons. Learn what went wrong, adjust the plan, and move forward. Resilience is a hallmark of a growth-mindset.

- Seek to learn: Always be a learner. Be curious, ask questions. Shift focus from proving yourself to personal development.

- Be around growth-mindset people: Their attitude and actions can be contagious and inspire you.

- Challenge negative self-talk: Listen to yourself. Control yourself by controlling your thoughts. Replace self-limiting thoughts with growth-oriented ones.

- Focus on effort, not outcomes: Celebrate effort and progress, not just results and outcomes. The journey is valuable.

- Be patient: It takes time to change a mindset. 

- Get feedback: Constructive criticism helps you see your blind spots. Don't be afraid to hear a different perspective.

The fixed-mindset creates an internal monologue that is focused on judging: "This means I'm not good at this." "This means I'm better than them." 

The growth-mindset creates an internal monologue that is not about judging, but looks for opportunities for learning and growth: "What can I learn from this?" "How can I improve?"

There are many ways to consider mindset. Take death, for example.

What happens after death?

When Mom was dying there was no other place I wanted to be. The energy in her bedroom, where we spent her final days with her, was different in a very positive way. Complete serenity.

I could feel the presence of our ancestors with us, at the base of the Ahwatukee Foothills in Phoenix. 

There was a  sensation of wholeness; the desire for nothing. 

I couldn't help, however, to think about what happens after death. Where is she going from here? 

Here is a passage from John O'Donohue's book Anam Cara:

Are Space and Time Different in the Eternal World?

“Space and time are the foundation of human identity and perception. We never have a perception that does not have each of these elements in it. The element of space means that we are always in a state of separation. I am here. You are there. Even the person that you are closest to, the one you love, is still a separate world from you. That is the poignancy of love. Two people become so close that they really want to become one; but their separate spaces keep the distance between them. In space, we are always separated. The other component of perception and identity is time. Time always separates us, too. Time is primarily linear, disjointed, and fragmented. All of your past days have disappeared; they have vanished. The future has not come to you yet. All you have is the little steppingstone of the present moment."

"When the soul leaves the body, it is no longer under the burden and control of space and time. The soul is free; distance and separation hinder it no more. The dead are our nearest neighbors; they are all around us. Meister Eckhart was once asked, Where does the soul of a person go when the person dies? He said, no place. Where else would the soul be going? Where else is the eternal world? It can be nowhere other than here. We have falsely spatialized the eternal world. We have driven the eternal out into some kind of distant galaxy. Yet the eternal world does not seem to be a place but rather a different state of being. The soul of the person goes no place because there is no place else to go. This suggests that the dead are here with us, in the air that we are moving through all the time. The only difference between us and the dead is that they are now in an invisible form. You cannot see them with the human eye. But you can sense the presence of those you love who have died. With the refinement of your soul, you can sense them. You feel that they are near."

"Often our loneliness and isolation are the result of a failure of spiritual imagination. We forget that there is no such thing as empty space. All space is full of presence, particularly the presence of those who are now in eternal, invisible form."

"Time must be totally different for the dead because they live now within a circle of eternity. Earlier we talked about landscape and how the Irish landscape resisted linearity. How the Celtic mind never liked the line but always loved the shape of the circle. Within the circle, beginning and ending are sisters, and they belong within the shelter which the eternal offers of the unity of the year and the earth. I imagine that in the eternal world time has become the circle of eternity.”

Our mindset influences how we view death. 

Whiskey in the Jar, by Thin Lizzy

After I added this John O'Donohue passage, I put on the famous traditional Irish song Whiskey In The Jar (1973) by the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy.

My Irish ancestors are rocking out with me.

Here's a picture I took of the statue of Thin Lizzy lead singer Philip Lynott (1949-1986) and the album cover with that song.

The statue is on Harry Street in Dublin, across the street McDaid's Pub where I enjoyed Jameson Irish whiskey. 

Thin Lizzy and whiskey. There ain't nothing like it. 

We can always cultivate a growth-mindset. Forever. 

We can change our brain.

“The brain is more like a muscle - it changes and gets stronger when you use it."
- Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.

Thank you for reading!

Be well,

Peter Pavlina