A friend sent me a quote recently and said, “This might tickle your blog senses.”
She was right.
The quote said:
“No one can destroy iron, but its own rust can. Likewise, no one can destroy a person, but their own mindset can.”
It’s attributed to Ratan Tata, when I checked.
It definitely tickled my blog senses.
I have written about mindset before. In fact, as I thought about this quote, I went back and read what I had written then. My earlier post on mindset
It made me think about how much of our lives are influenced by the way we think. Our mindset can determine how we see ourselves, how we see other people, how we respond when things don’t go our way and, perhaps most importantly, how we take responsibility for our own lives.
We all have things that happen to us that we didn’t choose. People disappoint us. Things don’t work out the way we expected. We make mistakes. Sometimes other people genuinely hurt us. Sometimes circumstances are completely outside our control. We have to know/learn when things are outside of our control.
But what happens next? That part can have a lot to do with our mindset. It is easy to blame someone else for where we are in life. Sometimes the blame may even be justified. But at some point, we still have to ask ourselves, “What am I going to do about it?” Because at the end of the day, it is our life. Not our parents’ life. Not our friend’s life. Not our boss’s life. Not our neighbour’s life. Ours. And while other people may influence our lives, they don’t get to live them for us.
I have noticed that mindset can quietly shape the way we move through life. Two people can experience something very similar and walk away with completely different perspectives. One might think, “This is the end of the road.” Another might think, “This is difficult, but perhaps there is something I can learn from it.” One might see failure. Another might see an opportunity to try differently. One might spend years thinking about what someone else did to them. Another might eventually ask, “What can I do now?” Neither person can change what happened. But perhaps they can change what happens next. And that is where I think the quote really got me thinking. Rust doesn’t destroy iron all at once. It happens gradually. A little here. A little there. And perhaps our mindset can work in much the same way.
A negative thought repeated often enough can become a belief. A belief can influence our behaviour. Our behaviour can become a habit. And before we know it, we may be living according to something we have been telling ourselves for years.
“I can’t.”
“I’m too old.”
“It’s too late.”
“People always let me down.”
“Nothing ever works out for me.”
“That’s just how I am.”
But is it? Or is that simply the mindset we have become comfortable with? The good thing about mindset is that it can change. We can grow. We can learn. We can listen to someone else’s experience and see something differently. We can have a conversation that challenges something we have always believed. We can make a mistake and decide that the mistake will teach us rather than define us. And sometimes, we may simply need to admit that the way we have been thinking isn’t helping us anymore.
That doesn’t mean pretending everything is positive. Life isn’t always positive. Sometimes things hurt. Sometimes we are disappointed. Sometimes we are angry. Sometimes we need to sit with those feelings for a while. But perhaps there comes a point when we have to decide whether we are going to remain there. Our mindset doesn’t mean that we control everything that happens to us. We don’t. But perhaps we have more control over how we respond than we sometimes realise. And maybe that is the responsibility that comes with having our own life.
We can’t pass the blame for everything that happens to us onto someone else. Our problems are ours to work on. Our choices are ours to make. Our lessons are ours to learn. And our mindset is ours to examine.
I am still learning this myself. I don’t always get it right. I have moments when I can see the negative before I see the possibility. I have moments when I question things, overthink things and probably make things bigger in my mind than they really are. Maybe you do too. I live in my mind.
But I am learning that we don’t have to stay the same person we were yesterday. We can change our minds. We can change our perspective. We can change the way we respond. We can learn from each other and from each other’s experiences. Perhaps that is one of the beautiful things about life. We don’t have to figure everything out by ourselves.
Sometimes someone else’s experience can open our eyes to something we couldn’t see. Sometimes a conversation can change our thinking. Sometimes a simple quote from a friend can make us stop and think. And sometimes it can even tickle our blog senses.
So I wonder…. What has your mindset been telling you lately? Is it helping you move forward, or is it keeping you stuck? Are there beliefs about yourself that you have carried for so long that you no longer question them? And if you could change one thing about the way you think about your life, what would it be?
Maybe our mindset isn’t something we get right once and keep forever. Maybe it is something we have to keep checking, adjusting and growing as we grow.
After all, it is our life. And perhaps we should be careful about what we allow to take root in our minds.
Listen to a deep dive of the blog on YouTube – https://youtu.be/Oh-zGBeDHFA?si=D1VVidi-bgeaA–e
See you soon! Join me again next Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. (Bogotá time) for another reflection on life, faith, growth, and the lessons we learn along the way. If this week’s reflection encouraged you, there are many more thoughtful reflections in my book, “Thoughts on Life”, now available.
Before you go, I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment below. Every perspective is valuable, and your insights often help me see things in a completely different way. If you’re not comfortable commenting publicly, feel free to reach out to me through any medium. I’d love to hear from you.
Your feedback not only encourages me, but it may also inspire a future blog and help someone else who reads it. You never know how your words might make a difference.
Remember, life is meant to be lived, so always strive to live your best life.
#lifeisforliving #liveyourbestlife #gratefulforlife #faithgreaterthanfear