At this time of the year, when our Year 12s are preparing for exams and finalising assignments, it is timely to consider the concept of mindset and how it affects our behaviour.
There is ample evidence to suggest that we humans pay more attention to and give more weight to negative rather than positive experiences. Why, you might ask? Because we have inherited the flight – fright – freeze response from our early ancestors. If they weren’t vigilant to dangers around them such as preying animals, they would perish. And while those dangers have largely disappeared, our brains are still hard wired to scan for danger; consequently, we all like a bit of drama every now and then; we are all prone to embellishing events and we all develop automatic negative thoughts to some degree. Research on Negativity Bias suggests that we need approximately three positives to counter one negative comment. Positive Education views human nature as motivated to pursue a fulfilling, flourishing life in which negativity bias and automatic negative thoughts are kept in check. In Catholic education we seek to foster human potential; we want our students to flourish, to use their God given gifts in the service of others.
Positive Psychology and Positive Education offer us strategies to increase our wellbeing through the cultivation of positive thoughts, feelings and behaviours; these are often referred to as PPIs (Positive Psychology Interventions). Examples of PPIs include: expressing gratitude and forgiveness; practising mindfulness; identifying and developing our strengths; regularly visualising our best possible selves, and practising compassion. Similarly, cultivating a Growth Mindset is very important to promoting wellbeing because it teaches us to persist despite obstacles; to embrace challenges; to be open to and learn from constructive criticism; to interpret failure compassionately and as an opportunity to learn, and to view intelligence as a trait that is developed over the life - span through strategic effort and ongoing reflection; it is not fixed.
October is Mental Health Month, so I encourage you to consider making a commitment to developing a Growth Mindset by choosing to enact a positive psychology intervention; it might be as simple as recording or saying one thing you are thankful for every day, or refraining from making judgemental comments.
“You have – within you – the fuel to thrive and to flourish and to leave this world in a better shape than you found it” (Barbara Fredrickson).
Sincerely
Glenn Clifford
Director of Wellbeing
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