The importance of mindset has become a key talking point within startup and pop culture—the power of which is rarely ever fully explored towards the end goal of effecting change for society-at-large. Mindset—the collective beliefs that inform a person’s thoughts, words, decisions and actions—ultimately pave a path towards successful self-actualization or failed human potential.
Generally, most messaging around the importance of mindset centers around the achievement of personal or career goals, however on a universal level, we are all interconnected by our humanity—so the concept of mindset and its impact proves far more crucial beyond improving the individual quality of life. Every human life is essentially a neuron within the nervous system of Creation. As artists, our gifts become tools that can help steer the electricity of action towards the betterment of the culture through our effect on the collective human mindset via music, art, dance and film. Our power of influence elevates the capacity of our gifts, calling and talents to a level of responsibility that belies personal gain or critical praise. Your gift when exercised at its highest level can help in restoring balance to environments by introducing higher cognitive thought and restorative energy to your audience—ultimately providing a why to what you do, along with the intuitive and experiential guidance on how your talents and gifts should be used.
Attaining the right mindset involves a large amount of introspection, self-examination, honesty and study—a mental hygiene practice that requires daily work. A careful review and amendment of your mental caloric intake, via social media, relationships, and artistic ingestion can go a long way in cleansing and strengthening your mindset. However, even after all of the clean-up work, what else can be done to protect your mindset with so many distractions at play within your environment and the world-at-large? How do you protect your mindset, beyond the human effort of reworking thoughts, language and actions? How do you, at times, fight against your own doubts and insecurity?
In scripture, there is a metaphor made between the bearing of armor and the mental and spiritual characteristics needed for protection against the seen and unseen challenges of life: including, the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of hope of salvation. Most notably, the metaphor of a helmet portrayed as hope re-emphasizes how important hope is to protecting your mindset from the odds you encounter. Hope is protective, and carries a lot of weight to it. It can be a strain and a burden to hope and believe against the reality of the obstacles before you, as well as your own perception of them. At every turn, there is a temptation to give up and alleviate the burdens of hope and optimism, as well as the supportive actions and discipline upholding them. However, in doing so, you inadvertently leave yourself vulnerable to people, places and things—particularly people—who are threatened by the imminent change brought about through your action towards your growth and goals—those who are eager to retain the status quo of your environment, even if it is detrimental to your best interest--while usually serving their comfort. When you lose your hope, or remove your helmet, you leave your mindset and beliefs open to thoughts and distractions that are counter to your progress, leaving you one or two decisions away from a misstep that exposes other vital organs—including your heart, soul and spirit. As Paul the Apostle advised: faith, hope and love are the greatest defense in building and sustaining the Kingdom of heaven—and the mindset of humanity.