Being Creatively OpenMinded
An open mind unlocks innovation by navigating the extremes.
The mind naturally emphasizes a point and insists until we over-identify with it, clouding the difference between the thinker and the thought. Opinion becomes certainty, solidifying until it becomes our cage. Remember the last time you held a belief to such an extreme that a conversation with others turned into the art of war. Welcome to the closed mode of the mind!
A closed mind tells us stories of impossibility, it becomes completely trapped in unexamined beliefs and is defended with unwavering certainty. On the other hand, an open mind allows new thoughts to enter like water that seeps through solid/encrusted beliefs so we can identify the ones we haven’t chosen to believe for ourselves.
The risk of a closed mind is that it could affect relationships by separating people into different ideologies or dogmas. It prevents collaboration and creation with others, completely nullifying the possibility of innovation, and preventing us from transcending politics, values, and social constructs. Our mind can become our relentless enemy that goes against our nature, blocking our deepest impulses to do something different.
An Open Mind Is The Pursuit Of Your Potential
It’s necessary to be present to constantly cultivate it at every moment, to remain in an open and creative state for as long as possible is a process of persistence. An open mind doesn’t understand polarity, it doesn’t operate based on evidence, and what is true emerges through experimentation and self-reflection.
The Process Of Building An Open Mind
Involves turning down the volume of the ego to take new perspectives for our lives. An overly open mind can fall into excessive empathy, going from learning new things to becoming attached to others' processes. The balance of an open mind lies in navigating the extremes. To avoid becoming attached to anything, we want to:
Be open to information.
Challenge that information with questions, perspectives, and experimentation.
Incorporate only what makes sense to us.
Attachment is a conscious or unconscious decision to incorporate information into our minds. Essentially, it’s true or not true for us. The problem is that if we are not aware and cautious, we can quickly jump from step 1 to step 3, allowing the process, program, or belief of others to enter us without experimenting and choosing it.
You need to be attentive, to realize if you automatically agree with anything you are told. The opinions that people express correspond to the programs they have established, with more or less consciousness, for themselves. That is why your responsibility for your evolution is to be open and at the same time develop the necessary critical level to incorporate only what enables you to find your truth.
A practical way to work on an open-minded process is to follow this writing process before finish your day:
Select two or three moments of the day to recognize what you are proud of yourself (a moment with your family, something you did, resolved or created, an interaction with someone).
Select one thing that you can’t resolve yet, an open loop, something that you can’t see openly, and give these questions a try to:
What is this experience telling me about me?
Does the way I approach this problem match with the person that I want to be?
Is there something about my character that I need to let go?
What is the essential lesson for me here? (action, new habit, insight)
In this process you will eventually find that you learn independently of the polarity of good bad, win or lose. You will realize that you see and develop your own truths for moving forward in your life independently of social conventions.
If you are able to achieve this balance between openness and consciousness, you will be able to navigate all contexts without fear, express yourself without doubt, and your own decisions will shape your destiny.
That's all for today. See you next time.
Julian.-