How to open the mind? Keys to adopt new perspectives

April 19, 2024

Many years ago, Albert Einstein said: "The mind is a parachute, it only works when it is opened." And it is necessary to ask ourselves if we can develop positively as people with a closed mentality.

Throughout this article we will talk about how to open the mind , as well as the importance of open-mindedness and the benefits of having an open attitude to change.

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The flexible mentality

Obviously, the fact of living life maintaining an open mind can provide us with many benefits and advantages, both when experiencing positive emotions and to perceive and take advantage of the countless opportunities that are presented to us.

Keeping an open mind is basic to personal well-being and stress management, as well as to help us achieve our vital goals and maintain a good relationship with the rest of society. After all, it is our ability to adapt cognitively and emotionally to those changes of life that we can not remain impassive, living with our old habits and mental shortcuts.

Although the concept of "mental openness" refers to a personality trait, it can be trained and developed through different techniques and steps, helping us to be more open to change, flexible and understanding.

In the workplace, having an open mind is extremely useful in those jobs that require creativity or are related to science and research. On the other hand, in our day to day, keep an open mind it helps us live without prejudice .

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6 steps to open our mind

As mentioned above, although mental openness is a personality trait, it is susceptible to being exercised and improved, thus providing us with several benefits at a personal, social and professional level.

Next we will see a series of techniques or methods that can help us to develop mental openness.

1. Practice listening

Listening to other people gives us a lot of information about what surrounds us and most importantly, it provides us with other points of view about life that can give us another perspective of certain aspects of our world.

However, listening does not mean listening. This listening must be active, eliminating our prejudices and allowing other people to express their opinions. Always from the respect on the part of both sides.

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2. Questioning things and ourselves

This includes both that which surrounds us and our own beliefs. Maintaining a critical stance with ourselves and with that which surrounds us is fundamental to developing mental openness, since this it does not imply that we have to blindly accept or believe everything that surrounds us .

People tend to assume as true what is transmitted to us by the media or society, as well as not to question what we have always believed.

However, to develop and maintain an open mind it is necessary that, from time to time, we reflect and question our own decisions, beliefs and customs, as well as the information that comes to us from other media.

3. Leave the comfort zone

Habitually, people tend to stay in those places or situations in which we feel safe, in which there are no risks and in which the unforeseen occur in the least number of possible occasions .

In this way, the person maintains a routine without contingencies or shocks, but also without incentives or motivations, and with the risk of developing a dependence on what this security provides.

This is called a "comfort zone" and although to a certain degree it is positive, we should not settle for it. A good way to get out of our comfort zone is go making small changes and actions that help us to get out of it little by little.

These small changes will give rise to larger ones and little by little we will get used to living new experiences that will help us to develop other perspectives of all that surrounds us and to expand the vision of our reality.

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4. Do not be afraid to be different

This step is closely related to the previous two. Assume as own the customs and behaviors imposed on us by society , will not help us develop mental openness.

To get rid of them, the first step is to eliminate the fear of being different from the rest, as well as to minimize the importance of what other people may think of us.

5. Do not fear mistakes

At the very moment when we decide to leave our comfort zone and open our mind to other beliefs or life experiences, we must accept that it is possible for us to make mistakes in many moments of our lives.

However, this can not be a barrier when it comes to improving our well-being. Mistake gives us the opportunity to learn from our mistakes , and these lessons will help us develop and grow as more complete people.

Therefore, it is necessary to get rid of the fear of making mistakes. Since it is impossible to develop an open mind if fear conditions us both to think and to act.

6. Open ourselves to what surrounds us

The world around us, people, things, nature, can serve as a stimulus and inspiration for any area of our life .

Learning from other people and cultures will provide us with new ideas and points of view that can serve us in the future. And doing it continuously will help us to keep an open mind and enjoy our life much more.

Benefits of keeping an open mind

Once we are aware of what we want to achieve and the steps or techniques we need to follow to achieve it, we can begin to enjoy all those benefits that an open mind can provide us.

Among the advantages of mental openness are the following: