The last few weeks in America have been particularly challenging. This, in the midst of a global pandemic in which we have all had to adapt to a completely new, somewhat sterile, way of living and interacting with others. In the last few weeks, we’ve seen people activated by social justice and the Black Lives Matter movement, and we’ve seen people acting in direct opposition to this. We live in a diverse world where social justice and equality has to matter.
For those finding it difficult to process everything, you might be finding it challenging to keep an open mind. After all, there’s a certain comfort in maintaining your opinions. However, opening your mind to the possibilities of new knowledge and relationships could bring greater fulfillment and happiness to your life.
Find Your Motivation
In order to make it possible for you to embrace new ideas, it’s important to first understand where you are coming from. Explore the origin of where your thoughts and belief systems have originated and challenge these. It is also important to motivate yourself to consider new opinions and beliefs. Why is this important to you? Are you committed to it? Are you willing to take action to make it happen?
Choose How to Increase Your Awareness
How might you open yourself up to these new ideas? A simple example would be if you find that you’re eating the same things all the time, perhaps you’d like to try some variation in your menu. To get your mind used to the idea, try at least one new food or recipe each week. It’s a simple and realistic approach!
You could start with one small area to open up to new ideas, and then gradually include more areas of your life. Starting small can help you ease into questioning your thoughts, feelings and opinions. You don’t have to make a sudden, drastic change in your thoughts.
These tips will help you become more open to new ideas:
- Fight the urge to react in anger when you hear differing opinions. Instead, take a moment to yourself to find the wisdom to understand that everyone will not hold the same opinions as you. Try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and see things their way.
- Avoid closing yourself off. Welcome new situations that are different from those you’re familiar with. When you’re exposed to differing opinions, look at them as learning experiences.
- Place yourself out of your comfort zone. Make the effort to journey out of your comfort zone often. If you have certain anxieties about new situations or people, you should still take this step, but make these changes slowly. Go to new places and meet new people.
- Stay social and make new friends. You’ll find that you’re more likely to discover new opportunities to expand your understanding when you remain social. Your friends might be trying new things that they can introduce you to as well. Also, when you make a new friend, they’ll likely have a unique set of ideas or ways of thinking about things for you to learn about to broaden your horizons.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Sometimes the only way to learn more about a certain situation and keep an open mind is to ask questions to gain a better understanding. While you don’t want to intrude on someone’s personal life, if they’re willing to share information, you should be willing and eager to listen.
- Avoid speculation. Go out and live the experience before you form opinions about something. Rather than blindly believing what someone else says, or assuming that you won’t like it, find out for yourself if you like something or not or if you agree with something or not.
When you have an open attitude about expanding your thoughts, feelings and opinions, you can open yourself up to new ways of seeing the world. You are actively opening up your perception, and adding color, in all its tones and textures, to this sterile new world we are currently living in.
An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity – Martin Luther King, Jr.
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