The world becomes more fascinating and far vaster when you become more open-minded. You become more explorative, your experiences are more enriching and more fulfilling. A sense of awe, joy and wonder is ever-present as you explore more of the journey called life. However, to become more open minded, can be quite challenging.
We all have beliefs, values, preferences, and prejudices that blind us to new experiences and ways of viewing the world and its people.
Consider these advantages of becoming a more open-minded person:
- You experience fewer negative emotions. Close-minded people are more easily annoyed and offended because they don’t want their ideas challenged. They typically get frustrated when they can’t get the other person to agree with them instead of being curious for what reason the other person disagrees. Whereas open-minded people tend to have fewer negative emotions and more positive emotions because they often give someone the benefit of the doubt, figuring that they might have good reasons for their actions. Hence they also are less reactive and more accepting of others.
- You learn more. Open-minded people are much more interested in learning about different ideas, people, places, and cultures. Close-minded people generally tend to think they already know everything and aren’t that open to learning something new.
- You get along better with others. Open-minded people like to have a greater variety of people in their life, and because of their accepting nature – allowing people to be who they are – they are also more likeable in general and are less likely to get into disagreements and arguments.
- You have a broader range of experiences. Close-minded people have much more limited lives. Whereas when your mind is open to more possibilities, you’ll enthusiastically engage in new experiences and live a more emotionally enriching life.
- You’ll be wrong less frequently. The more open you are, the less likely you are to come to an incorrect conclusion. You’ll consider all the possibilities and perspectives. This will also result in you being in agreement with people more often, that those who are close minded.
- You’re more willing and able to learn from your mistakes. When an open-minded person makes a mistake, they can think about what went wrong on a deep level. They’ll consider that maybe they made an error in judgement, their knowledge is insufficient, or they may need more experience and practice. They can embrace being ‘wrong’, and question everything, even themselves. A close-minded person, on the other hand, is less likely to consider all the possibilities for their failures, so it’s harder for them to benefit from the lesson, improve their situation, and develop themselves further.
- You are less limited. When you have a very limited scope, you and your life are very limited too. But if you open your mind wide enough, you can explore, create, and grow like never before.
- You’ll love more people, and more people will love you. Open-minded people are more accepting of others, are less likely to offend or to be offended, are potentially more interesting, and are more interested in others. All of these qualities add up to a person that is tolerant, more considerate and loving – who wouldn’t want to be around someone like that!
You can train yourself to become more open-minded with these 4 strategies:
1. Avoid reacting to the opinions of others. Rather than leap to a conclusion in reaction to someone else’s opinion, stop and ask questions. Inquire what makes them believe that. You might learn something you either didn’t know or never considered.
2. Read books on topics that are contrary to your opinion. For example, if you prefer liberal ideas, read a book written by a conservative. Are you certain that global warming doesn’t exist? Read a book by a climate scientist that strongly supports the theory of global warming.
3. Expose yourself to new people. We tend to hang out with people that are like ourselves. However, there are plenty of other people in the world that have something to offer that’s new for you and may even be beneficial to you in ways you never thought possible.
4. Explore new places and things. The most open-minded people tend to be those that also travel extensively. Have you ever visited a country or been to a place where no one looks like you? Different cultures value different things. Enjoy the adventure of exploring the diversity in our world by traveling!
Close-minded people tend to find comfort in the fact that their beliefs are certainties to them. Many of them would rather not consider any other alternative, consequently their experience of life remains limited. However, if you want your life to be so much more interesting and have a truly educational and enriching experience, there are so many advantages to being open-minded that it’s well worth the effort.
Try it! You might like it!
