Welcome to the July Edition of The#MTL Monthly. In this month’s video, Sara and special guest Madison discuss Independence Day, Beat the Heat Week, and more! Click on the image above or here to watch.
Featured Club: Encanterra Country Club
Each month, we feature the #MTL Calendar’s spotlight community in a fun video. This month, learn about Encanterra Country Club in Queen Creek, Arizona! Click on the photo above or here to watch. Want to learn even more about Encanterra? Click here!
Introducing Beat the Heat Week, July 10th – 16th
Temperatures are at their peak, but we’re ready to Beat the Heat with a full week of activities to keep you from hitting that summertime slump! July 10th – 16th is Beat the Heat Week here in Trilogy® and we have a jam-packed schedule of events to keep you cool and entertained.
What is Beat the Heat Week, you may ask? Take yourself back to your high school days when spirit weeks were the time to show off your best school spirit by embracing a different theme each day. Well, that’s what we’re bringing to you with activities and other offerings all week long to get you through the blazing temps outside. Check the MTL Events Calendar to see what your community has in store for you!
Submit Your Story for the Sixth Edition of the #MTL Magazine
Do you want to share your story? The sixth edition of the #MyTrilogyLife Magazine is set to debut in 2024 and we want to feature what makes Trilogy great – YOU!
Whether you have embarked on thrilling adventures, achieved remarkable professional milestones, or encountered unforgettable moments in your community, we want to hear it all! Our aim is to feature diverse stories from each community and, in order to achieve that, we need to hear from you.
Click here to share something unique about yourself, a neighbor, a Member-led Club you’re part of, or why you love your Trilogy community. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Mindset, Resilience, and Healthy Longevity with Dr. Roger Landry
In the fourth article of this year’s series, we’ll continue to explore The How of Healthy Longevity by focusing on resilience and how to strengthen this critically important survival trait.
We all interpret and process the world through our own unique lens: certainly, our visual lens, but more importantly, our mental and emotional lenses. I will address our mental lens here, and our emotional lens in the next article.
Our mental lens is called mindset and is defined as “a habitual mental attitude that determines how we interpret and respond to situations.”For example, when we are confronted with change, how do we respond? Do we resist? Accept it? Welcome it? Do we have a half-full or half-empty view of the world? Are we willing to listen to opposite views or feel compelled to prove them wrong? Do we believe that our personal effort can make a difference in our lives, or is it more about luck or privilege? Do we treat people as if they are basically good, or self-serving? These are just a few of the many beliefs, opinions, and preferences that make us unique and drive our behavior.
How is Mindset Formed?
The answer to this question would undoubtedly be that we create it from our experience. Although this may be true for some of our established views, oftentimes these views are based on very limited experience. A negative experience with one or two people from a certain place, or with certain characteristics, may be the basis for a generalized mindset of such people. Likewise, our entrenched view on a topic may be based on no personal experience, but only on things we read about or learned from social media that agree with our already-established view. Some of our beliefs may be the result of things we were told when we were children and accepted fully. We may be reluctant to try something because we failed at a similar attempt earlier in life.
The point is, we often form opinions, expectations, biases, and preferences based on very limited experience which we leave untested, and search for things that are consistent with our current beliefs.
Fixed vs. Growth Mindset
A mindset that resists any possibility of things being different than what we currently believe is called a “fixed mindset.” It resists change, reflects a victim mentality, has low expectations of the outcome of personal effort, supports bias, and lacks curiosity. We have learned that some of the characteristics of a resilient person are: an understanding and acceptance that all things change; a belief that personal effort can overcome adversity; a healthy curiosity; an appetite to learn and try new things; and a half-full view of the world. It’s clear then, that a fixed mindset is incompatible with resilience, and therefore a threat to a healthy longevity.
A growth mindset, on the other hand, is most compatible with resilience since the characteristics of both are nearly identical. For example, what are the characteristics of the resilient people who weathered the pandemic well? They believed they could survive and even thrive; were able to pivot with the new requirements to stay healthy; they saw some aspects of their lives which were better than before the pandemic; and they trusted science and data to make decisions on their health and behavior. Yes, the pandemic was a powerful and unique event, however it was merely a more concentrated experience of the curve balls and challenges that life sends our way every day.
Are We Stuck With Our Mindset?
Even though the definition of mindset is “a habitual mental attitude,” that does not mean that we cannot cultivate a growth mindset. In fact, we often oscillate between growth and fixed mindset depending on the circumstance. That said, we do tend to gravitate towards one or the other for most of our lives. There is quote attributed to Chief Sitting Bull which is telling:
“Inside of me there are two dogs. One is mean and evil and the other is good, and they fight each other all the time. When asked which one wins, I answer, the one I feed the most.”
And so it is with mindset. To the extent we recognize our limiting views and attempt to change them, we can indeed build a growth mindset which feeds our resilience.
Here are some simple mindset-altering strategies:
Be Aware | Being mindful of your view or response to something is the beginning of not being a prisoner of it.
Challenge Your Views | Approach each view you hold now with a “what if it’s different than that” possibility. Just the consideration is healthy.
“Uncertainty is the Rule” | Realize that the world is not black and white. Embrace a grey view that allows for nuances and existence of other beliefs.
Listen to Other Views | You do not have to accept other views, but making sure you understand them is key to a peaceful coexistence.
Respect Facts | Science and data are non-negotiable when it comes to truth. Myths are important to we humans, but are unhealthy when they contradict reality.
Allow Others Their Views | Give up the need to be right or at least the need to to prove others wrong. Use the phrase “you may be right” more often.
See the Positive | There are positive aspects to every happening. Finding the positive is a necessity if we are to thrive in a world of challenges.
Be Flexible | Inflexible things break. Life is change. Denying change is denying reality and leaves us incapable of resilience.
Seek, Find, and Follow your Purpose | Having a strong purpose is true north for our lives. With it, we can manage the winds and currents of life’s challenges. Remember also, your purpose evolves as your life circumstances change.
– Dr. Roger Landry
Did you miss the first event in Dr. Landry’s four-part series on resilience? Click here to view the recording, and be sure to join us for the second part on Saturday, August 19th.
“Chances are pretty good that if someone asked you to describe the nutritional value of your food, you would instinctively begin to explain the protein, fat, and carbohydrate contents, followed by a nod to the vitamin contents of the vegetables or fruit on your plate. In the west, this is a typical assessment of what we should eat, and the mantra I usually share is no different: eat a mostly whole foods diet: lean organic meats, lots of colorful vegetables, some fruit, and good oils.”
Click hereto read the full article. You can read all of Dr. Amy’s Wellness Journals at any time on MTL by clicking on More Fun Stuff > Dr. Amy and then selecting the Wellness Journals tab.
