Being Open
“If you open your heart, love opens your mind.” — Charles John Quarto
It’s my birthday and I often take time to reflect during this time of the year. With everything that has happened in the past week or so with the floods and wildfires, I want to offer some thoughts on being open and receptive. Sometimes we’re not as open as we think we are to new ideas, so it can be useful to test ourselves from time to time to make sure we are not “filtering out” good stuff from coming in to our lives.
Ask yourself these basic questions around something that you strongly believe, or when new information comes along that doesn’t fit your model:
1) What is the source of my belief? Is it the way I was raised? Did I learn it at school? Did it come from my experience?
2) What are the other options that could explain what is going on? Just play a little “what if” game to come up with every possible explanation you can think of.
3) When information comes along that contradicts or brings into question what I believe, how do I react? Do I get defensive? Do I shut down? Have I been taught to not question because questioning is bad and therefore anyone who brings my beliefs into question is bad?
4) What would change for me if I were wrong about my belief?
5) Have I really been searching for the right way, or am I just “going along” because it’s easier?
In his book “The People of the Lie”, Scott Peck talks about the concept of “mental maps”. A mental map is our brain’s way of making sense out of everything we’ve learned and experienced. If we stay open, we will always be working to make our mental maps accurate and useful reflections of what is truly happening. However, if we close ourselves off to new and vital information, our maps will stagnate and we will have no hope of achieving deep connection with our powerful inner selves. Imagine a map maker who refused to incorporate discovered geographical findings like the Rocky Mountains, The Great Lakes or the Polar Ice Cap simply because he didn’t want them to be there. Kinda silly.
Keeping yourself open, questioning and receptive to change can be scary. However, opening your heart and trusting it to discern the truth — to be your guide — will allow your mind to be a the truly powerful tool it is. So try to keep yourselves open to new and exciting experiences and information — and to what they are telling you. Doing this will light your path and enlighten your soul!
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Until next time,
Your friends at Soul Canyon Training & Development
www.soulcanyon.com
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