Intellectual Wellness
To cultivate intellectual wellness one must seek out mentally stimulating and creative activities along with remaining open to new ideals and experiences. This requires belief in a growth mindset. To have this growth mindset you must be ready to reject the old adage “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” when it attempts to wiggle its way into your path as a hurdle on your road to intellectual growth. We’ve all likely witnessed personally or heard about non-traditional students returning to some sort of schooling in order to pursue passions or new career endeavors or have friends with so many hobbies or interests that it’s hard to keep up with them. These people have that growth mindset in spades! Their desire to learn new concepts, improve skills, and seek challenges in pursuit of lifelong learning drives them beyond the comfort zone of the familiar and into a more intellectually stimulating world.
The following video explores the differences between the growth mindset and a fixed mindset.
As with anything we are never 100% one way or another. You may find ways that you experience a growth mindset approach and other ways that the fixed mindset keeps you bound. “My hypocrisy knows no bounds”. Being cognizant of and observing your response or reaction to both new topics and old paradigms you will begin to unearth some of the thoughts & beliefs that might have you in a fixed mindset holding pattern. From there you will have the choice to continue in that fashion or to deconstruct the mental chains that keep you bound.
From my observation I believe there has been a shift in our cultural mindset from a pretty solid fixed to more of an expansive growth, generally speaking. Being raised in the 70’s & beyond I found myself surrounded by the concept that your IQ was simply the luck of the draw. What you were born with is what you had to live with and there was no point in attempting anything above your mental station. Also, you also were meant to choose one career and stick with it. Now a days more and more people are pushing themselves past those limitations and becoming the proverbial ‘Jack of all trades’! Again, this is a sign of a growth mindset.
Alluded to here is the idea that the growth mindset finds one beginning to learn not because they have to but because they want to. In this our western world we are put into school at the age of 4 or 5 and are expected to go through high school then on to college. It’s pushed upon us, never really our choice. After 16 years of classrooms & assignments taking up most of our lives it seems understandable that we might have a bit of angst towards learning for a bit. So, how do we turn it around and open back up to a life of learning that we get to choose? For some that is the challenge. For others those formative years of education were positive, sparking an insatiable love for learning. Either way, to achieve intellectual wellness learning must go on!
Some of the other ways suggested to stimulate intellectual wellness are:
Enjoying a variety of experiences, even if it’s something you are quite sure of.
Keenly observing the world around you.
TRAVEL, experiencing new cultures.
Listening and questioning.
Finding applications for material you’ve learned.
Staying current with world affairs.
Taking in the arts.
Reading.
Staying involved in community activities.
Teaching others.
Interest Exploration
For this offering I’d like to suggest you do a little repeat of a previous exercise. Do you remember the one from the Career/ Purpose email? We had you doing a meditation where you visited your younger self to be reminded of the exciting passions that once sparked enthusiasm for your dream career. (If you need a reminder, click ~HERE~). Using the information gained there, or through any other means, we can continue down the path to identifying stimulating new ways to ignite intellectual wellness.
With an interest list in hand you might find it helpful to work on prioritizing them in order of excitement/ passion and feasibility (time, money, availability). After that, decide what commitments to your own intellectual exploration you are ready and willing to make. i.e. ceramics class once a week, an hour a day reading/ studying up on becoming a pilot, horseback riding lessons twice a month, etc.
The next step will be to put your plan into place. How fun!!! Set yourself up for success by taking any necessary baby steps to test how it feels and how fits into your current situation. Remember, it’s an exploration.
I’d love to hear how it goes!
Until next time, be well & enjoy the journey!