The Importance Of Achieving Excellence In Your Mindset And Spirituality For More Ease, More Fun

Today we're talking about achieving excellence in midlife. I'm limiting this to two specific areas because once you get these two in line, it makes the rest of life easier. Things seem to fall into place with less resistance, and life just becomes smoother. (Yay!) So excelling in these two areas can be transformative.

The two areas I'm talking about are your midlife mindset and your spirituality. I'm offering you some food for thought, then I'm going to leave you with a little challenge for the upcoming week. Let's think about midlife for a moment.

Midlife is an incredible phase of life. It's a time of reflection, growth and rediscovery. When we go through these midlife transitions, as we all do, we have to adjust our lives for new situations and new circumstances whether you've become an empty nester or you've retired or you've become a caretaker for a parent or a grandchild.

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I'm using Philippians 4:8 as the basis for looking at both of these areas. It says:

"Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things."

The Bible offers such timeless wisdom, doesn't it? This is one of my favorite verses. But I especially love it when things don't go as planned, when things are falling apart, when people aren't behaving the way that I want them to. I memorized this verse many years ago because it's such a beautiful reminder to pause, find the good and focus on it.

It reminds me to not let my mind go to "those thoughts." (You know them, don't you?) They're the negative thoughts, the doom, gloom, depression and futility. These are the thoughts that can drag you down. If you let them grab hold of you, one thought feeds the next and then the next, and then you start to spiral. From somebody who's been in those downward spirals, they're exceptionally difficult to pull yourself out of.

Your midlife mindset

So when you're looking at your mindset, obviously it all starts with thoughts. Your mind is like a garden and the thoughts you cultivate become the fruit of your life.

I have to stop and ask you right now:

What kind of fruit are you bearing in your life? Because your life is a manifestation of your thought life, or your thought garden if you want to call it that.

When you consciously choose to nurture thoughts aligned with the qualities I just mentioned, you're naturally going to filter out the negativity. You're going to push those thoughts out of your mind because you're filling your mind with the good stuff, and that's the goal.

That's why this is such a fantastic verse for your mindset, especially if you're not sure what "better thoughts" are. All you have to do is align your thoughts with the qualities in Philippians 4:8.

I encourage you to memorize the verse, so you always have it in your back pocket when you need it. If you get into the habit of catching your thoughts and then replacing them with yummy, delicious thoughts from this verse, it's all going to become second nature to you.

You are not only training your mind to be more optimistic, you're also training it to become more resilient.

Your midlife faith

Next, let's talk about spirituality. Spirituality means different things to different people but at its core, it's about connecting with something greater than ourselves. It's about finding meaning and purpose and inner peace. You may be thinking you're not religious, but I'm not talking about religion.

There are different religions out there that encompass a set of beliefs like the Protestant religion, the Catholic religion and the Jewish religion. Personally, I view religion as the framework or the delivery system that helps to enhance your spirituality.

But spirituality is more personal than that. It's something that lives inside each of us. We are designed with this inside of us, so it's natural that we have a desire to connect with something greater than ourselves. That's a very natural thing.

In the context of midlife, spirituality can be a powerful anchor. It helps us navigate the inevitable changes and challenges that come our way simply by living our lives.

For me, it's a source of strength and resilience, wisdom and comfort that I've depended on for most of my life. Y'all know I'm a practicing Christian, and I use the word "practicing" because I practice my faith daily.

I feel like my spirituality is the essence of who am. I honestly don't even know what I would do without it. I don't know how I would even function without my one-on-one relationship with God through what Jesus did on the cross for me.

So how can you achieve excellence in your spirituality during midlife? It'll take a little time as you explore and deepen your spiritual practices. If you're new to this and you want to start exploring your spirituality, one of the most common ways to do this is to use the beliefs in established religions like the ones I mentioned earlier.

It's a good starting point because it's all laid out there for you. Within the religion, there are specific tools and spiritual practices that you can explore, like prayer or meditation or reading scripture from the Bible. Test these practices to find out what resonates best with you.

I can't tell you step-by-step what to do because we're all individuals. We all have unique needs and desires. I can, however, tell you that this is a deeply, deeply personal journey. And it's one of the most worthwhile journeys you can take in your entire life.

Your midlife gratitude

As we strive to live midlife with excellence in our mindset and our spirituality, let's not forget the importance of gratitude. Gratitude is like a magnet for banishing those negative thoughts and moving into a place of thanksgiving and acceptance.

When you regularly take time to give thanks, you shift your focus away from what's lacking to what you actually have. When you start looking at what you actually have in your life, your entire perspective on life can shift.

Gratitude aligns beautifully with the qualities mentioned in Philippians 4:8. It is true and noble and right and praiseworthy. It's a practice that can transform your mindset and deepen your spirituality.

I want to leave you with a simple challenge. Over the next week, try to implement one positive change in your mindset and one in your spirituality. It could be something as small as starting a gratitude journal or setting aside 10 minutes a day for prayer or meditation, or reading one chapter in a book of the Bible.

Easy Ager, midlife is a beautiful chapter in our lives. By enhancing your mindset and spirituality, you can truly make this phase the most rewarding and fulfilling one yet.

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