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Clinical Psychologist Patricia Chan explained in her webinar that people's mindsets can be divided into: 1) a "Fixed Mindset" that deems intelligence and ability to be finite, and 2) a "Growth Mindset" which believes abilities can be cultivated and continuous improvement can be attained through hard work. She demonstrated the concept and differences between the two mindsets with various examples from experimental research studies, actors, athletes and celebrities, illustrating that one's mindset affects one's behaviour, performance, and even achievement. She encouraged participants to treat adversity as a learning experience, to equip themselves with and to cultivate a "Growth Mindset" for personal development. Patricia also emphasised the importance of embracing failure, because one can learn a lot from failure, leading to great personal progress and success. She cited the following points to deepen members' understanding of a "Growth Mindset" and to provide practical advice:

• The characteristics of a "Growth Mindset": People with a "Growth Mindset" believe that intelligence can be cultivated and nurtured. They are able to learn from criticism and are inspired by the success stories of others, facing challenges and setbacks head-on, and achieving excellence through perseverance.

• Achieving a "Growth Mindset": Everyone has both a "Growth Mindset" and "Fixed Mindset". You must first learn to accept your "Fixed Mindset", and become aware of the things that trigger it. Try to understand that this mindset exists to protect you. You can learn to listen out to the messages it conveys and give it a name, which helps you to change gradually. In addition, you need to communicate with your "Fixed Mindset", enabling your brain to learn and develop a "Growth Mindset".

Q: Does one's character determine whether one has a "Growth Mindset" or a "Fixed Mindset"?
A: Innate factors only account for around 50%. Environmental elements, your personal thoughts and intentions also have an impact. As long as a person is willing to try and to practise, anyone can make positive changes and cultivate a "Growth Mindset".

Q: What should be the focus when nurturing a "Growth Mindset" in children?
A: You can use pictures to demonstrate to children that the process of learning helps their brains to grow, indicating that using the brain is a sort of training for it. Parents should respond to the effort the child has put in when praising children as this encourages the development and realisation of a "Growth Mindset" for them to face challenges proactively and make consistent improvement. In contrast, empty compliments or praise regardless of performance will generate mistrust between parents and children, leading the kids to form a false "Growth Mindset" to avoid difficulties.

Please click here for more webinar highlights and watch the webinar video here. (Both materials are in Chinese only.)

Clinical Psychologist Karen Wong shared a series of cases, real-life examples and metaphorical stories during her webinar, explaining that the essence of mindfulness is living in the moment, letting go of specific notions and judgments in life, and focusing on current feelings to regulate your thoughts. She pointed out that by practising mindfulness, the stress and worry caused by adversity or the pandemic can be relieved, and you can also calm your mind. You are encouraged to apply the following three suggestions to your mindfulness practice:

• Engage in mindful thinking: Thoughts and feelings influence one other, and negative thoughts are simply an indication of a low mood. We tend to think negatively in times of adversity. To rectify this, we need to pay attention to and perceive our "Automatic Thoughts", learning to live in harmony with these negative thoughts and avoid judging the situations or things that we are facing. We can also practise rational distancing from undesirable thoughts or feelings by writing them down on paper to give ourselves space to respond to them with a mindful heart.

• Rediscover your motivation with mindfulness: Uncover the things and activities in life that are nourishing, achievable and pleasurable. Do more of these things to balance out your pressure and regulate your body and mind, allowing motivation to follow. Maintaining a mindful attitude throughout the process, and adding new, nourishing activities to your life at a comfortable pace can also build your motivation and uplift your mood.

• Practise mindfulness in day-to-day life: Create opportunities to organise your thoughts each day. For example, you can try simple "3-minute mindful breathing exercises", engage in mindful walking, feeling your feet on the ground and observing the environmental changes around with your senses, or spend some time being thankful for a day of hard work before going to sleep at night. When you integrate mindfulness into your lifestyle and habits, it helps to reduce anxiety and irritability.

Q: Which day-to-day mindfulness exercises are suitable for children?
A: Explaining mindfulness to a child using words alone may not be profound for them. You may practise mindfulness with your child during everyday activities such as eating. For instance, when you give your children a sweet, you can encourage them to eat it more slowly, fully experiencing its look, smell, touch and taste. This enables the kids to experience mindfulness and to learn to live within the moment.

Q: Is "Automatic Thought" influenced by environment or by life? Is it the same as negative thinking?
A: "Automatic Thought" differs from negative thinking, but negative thoughts appear more frequently during adversity (such as during the pandemic). In fact, you can automatically generate positive thoughts. People can also influence each other's thinking. For example, a child's way of thinking tends to be passed down from parents. If you always keep a calm attitude and practise positive thinking, you can help both yourself and others to cope with adversity better.

Please click here for more webinar highlights and watch the webinar video here. (Both materials are in Chinese only.)