Growth Mindset

It’s so important to understand how we can contribute to our experiences, both big and small.

Energy practices—such as Reiki—and somatic exercises—such as grounding—have been shown to help cultivate an internal locus of control.

With a strong external locus of control, we will tell themselves that our failures and successes are all due to outside factors: the deck was stacked against me, so I was never going to get that job; I didn’t do well on that test because the teacher is so bad, etc.

When we cultivate the internal locus of control, we are more able to look at failures and successes as being intrinsic to how we approach things, the mindset we are using; and where we can take responsibility for where we do have control, rather than giving up because we can’t see or feel the options.

That’s not to say that any of this is easy—particularly on your own! Having a “fixed” mindset is associated with a stronger external locus of control, but it is often the result of intersectional behaviors and variables: culture, family, gender, poverty , and experiences of violence, among other things.

But this is where working with a Reiki practitioner familiar with exactly how the nervous system works can help make that shift—there are scholarly articles that show such practices do aid in building the internal locus of control over time, and this can be especially helpful to those who like Carol Dweck’s work with “growth” mindset, but are unclear on how they can get there.

The main point to take away is that it is never too late to shift because brain researchers now understand that our brains are incredibly neuroplastic—that is, able to adapt to change—and this ability does NOT stop in childhood as previously thought.