5 Steps to Help Your Mind Change Your Life

By: Aorn Staff

Published: 12/11/2022

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Are you feeling stuck in a rut, as if your everyday existence is on autopilot? You have the power to change your life at this very moment, if you are willing to take action for yourself, according to success expert Magie Cook.

She learned this lesson early in life as an orphan in Mexico. “Many of the children I grew up with chose a path to drugs or prostitution—I made a different choice.”  Cook's mindset earned her a basketball scholarship to the University of Charleston and after earning her degree, she entered a salsa competition and won $800 to start her own business. She grew that business into a multimillion-dollar operation in four years, subsequently sold it, and went back to Mexico to rescue orphans from a drug cartel, she explained in a recent conversation with The Periop Life.

As we look to a new year ahead, we asked Cook how nurses can truly change their life trajectory right now. She says you have to “open your mind and nourish it to get to a better place.” Here’s how:

Step 1: Remember What Inspires You

Our ‘why’ can get turned off in early stages of growing up because of the circumstances we are in, Cook says. To help you pinpoint your purpose, try this:

Quiet your mind for a moment and go back to your earliest memories of things you loved doing. Ask yourself if you could do this favorite thing today and still love it, even if you didn’t get paid.

Because your purpose can change, she says, it’s important to ask yourself every day: “Why do I do what I do? Do I need to change the way I’m thinking and looking at the world?”

Step 2: Break Free from Barriers Holding You Back

Even with a purpose in mind, you need to identify negative patterns of action that become blocks to achieving personal success. We can often identify these patterns in the relationships we choose, Cook says. She shared a personal example of choosing the wrong people to date before she met her husband: “I was determined to break this chain of bad relationships, so I made a list of the things I would no longer put up with and the things I wanted—we have to love ourselves enough to make choices that can help us be our truest self.”

Step 3: Nourish Mind and Body to Move Forward

Once you have an open path to your purpose, you must build yourself up to awaken your lifeforce energy, so you have the strength and mental fortitude to get where you want to be. Cook did this when she started her business and advises these key actions:

  • Exercise every single day.
  • Eat healthy and nourishing foods.
  • Always get enough sleep.

Step 4: Choose Your Daily Narrative to Stay on Track

Cook says the moment when you first wake up is critical. She believes it’s the best time to meditate on an idea or prime yourself to move forward in a positive way by thinking about something you are grateful for. “Avoid waking habits such as picking up your phone right away and reading the news or checking social media,” Cook suggests.

Instead, try journaling to create a new healthy waking habit. “This is a powerful and therapeutic way to have a conversation with yourself, often you can solve worries or problems just by writing down your thoughts.”

Step 5: Repeat

Practicing daily healthy habits for mind and body should top your priority list, Cook says. Doing that will arm you with the strength to face any challenge that comes your way, without getting derailed from the path you choose, Cook stresses. “Remember, the greater the adversity, the greater the teaching, the greater the opportunity to learn something you can use it to make your life better.”

Win a meet-and-greet with Magie Cook during AORN Global Surgical Conference & Expo 2023. Cook will take the main stage the keynote speaker on April 4 in San Antonio, TX. Use promo code COOK when registering to be entered into the drawing. Drawing will be held January 1, 2023.