We all like to think that we are open-minded, but what does it mean to just be “open-minded”? How does an open-minded person describe himself? What are the benefits of being open-minded? We take a look at the definition and benefits of open-mindedness.
Are you sensitive to new ideas? Do you think you are open-minded? Are you tired of seeing the world in the same way as outdated? Do people tell you that you always see only one side of the story? If so, it’s time to broaden your horizons and improve your life so you can be more open-minded. Open-minded people live an exciting, balanced existence full of discoveries. By working on it, you can be part of these people.
I – Definition: To Be Open-Minded
According to the dictionary, “open-mindedness describes the attitude of a person who shows great tolerance, showing interest, curiosity, and understanding for ideas that differ in part or totally from his. ”
Interesting is not it! So first, being open-minded would be tolerant, which means respecting the freedom, opinions, and attitudes of others.
And conversely, having a narrow mind would be intolerant and therefore closed to the opinions and ideas of others. This would be the tendency to reject anything that is not in keeping with our beliefs and beliefs.
In reality, we each have our own beliefs, our own convictions, our own ideals, and all of this form of our inner world. On the other hand, another person also has his own inner world with the myriad of beliefs and opinions that go with it. So the important thing is not to play “the game of the right”, but simply to be open-minded by listening to each other’s opinions, with kindness and not trying to impose our own ideas.
On the basis of this, open-mindedness means accepting, or rather respecting, the ideas and opinions of others.
Open-mindedness is simply giving up certainty! And the opposite is not uncertainty. It is openness, curiosity, and the will to embrace the paradox that can exist between the opinions of two people.
But beware; one could rightly think that to be open-minded would accept everything with naivety or credulity. But far from it, because if we accept everything, then we are brought to the contradiction, being forced to accept at the same time opinion and its opposite. So open-mindedness is simply accepting that another person can have beliefs different from ours and respect them.
Open-mindedness is also about accepting that we cannot know everything, that our beliefs are not unwavering principles, and that we have new things to learn every day. So it’s about being ready to sometimes question ourselves and even change our beliefs, opinions, or conceived ideas.
As could say, Isaac Asimov: ” Your prejudices are your windows on the world. Clean them from time to time, or the light will not enter. ”
This thought leads us to question ourselves, however, how does the openness of mind appear?
II – Presentation of the Open-Mindedness
Of course, there are different degrees of openness, and I think that the more we are freed from the ego, the higher we reach the higher degrees of openness. The ego is the part of us that judges and believes we know everything. So, once we go beyond the walls of the ego, we arrive in a space where only observation remains. We observe people and accept them as they are, respecting their idea, but always without being naive.
Indeed, we have the right to have our own beliefs, but nothing prevents us from listening to others and going to explore their own world. It is through experience and adventure that one grows up and nothing better to progress than to venture into a discussion in the inner world of a person to listen to his ideas and discover his own vision. of the world.
In other words, open-mindedness is linked to “the way people approach the opinions and knowledge of others and incorporate the idea that others should be free to express their opinions and that the value of their knowledge should be recognized. There are different scales to measure open-mindedness. The fact that the school should emphasize open-mindedness preferentially to relativism in its scientific teaching, the scientific community not using a relativistic way of thinking, was debated.
Openness is generally considered an important personal attribute for effective participation in a leadership team and other groups.
According to “What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite”, narrow-mindedness, or a reluctance to consider new ideas, can result in the brain’s natural dislike for ambiguity. According to this view, the brain has a relationship of the type “search and destruction” with the ambiguity and signs of contradiction in the different current beliefs tend to place it in an uncomfortable position thus introducing the ambiguity. Research confirms that people who are closed-minded are less tolerant of cognitive dissonance.
On this, it is obvious that we are wondering about the benefits of being open-minded?
III – The Benefits of Being Open-Minded
There are so many reasons to be open-minded. We note:
1 – To Improve Your Relations
As we say, being open-minded increases our level of tolerance and we accept people as they are. So a person with a good open mind will be more attentive during a discussion and people will be naturally more inclined to come and confide in us. We are more understanding, we give and receive love more easily because we do not try to change others, we only listen and share our ideas. And if we really want to change a belief that we think to limit in someone, it must be in the sharing, then the other to agree to change or not.
2 – For a Faster Personal Development
How to progress without being open-minded? Indeed, if we remain to squat on our beliefs without ever questioning them how do we want to move forward? Rather, by welcoming the ideas and opinions of others and questioning them, we can discover new things. We always have to learn from each other, regardless of age, color, social status, or other, and we have new things to learn every day. And it is by exploring, rather than believing without exploring on our own, that we learn best. Being your own teacher and determining what is good for you, as long as you are honest with yourself and know how to make an opinion while always being ready to question yourself. And that is why we evolve more quickly, because accepting that we can never know everything, we accept that we always have new things to learn.
And if we listen to Plato in these terms: ” Deny his ignorance, it is to be doubly ignorant “. So to make the confession that we are all more or less ignorant is already a huge step towards bringing us closer to knowledge. That’s it, be open-minded! Then we free ourselves little by little from our ego and grow faster.
3 – For More Success and Opportunity
The vast majority of people, who live an exciting, balanced, and full of discoveries are mostly open-minded people. Why? In fact, as we said above, being open-minded, opens the door to deeper and deeper interactions with the people we meet. If they feel that we are listening and interested, they will be more inclined to share with us their knowledge, their networks, their passions … and of course their ideas.
By developing our open-mindedness, it’s all the way we understand the life that is changing and we are much more receptive and open to what life can offer us. Most of the advances and successes of mankind have been carried out by people who enjoyed the strength of an open mind and questioned the limitless world. Imagine the courage that had to be there some decade ago to dare to pretend that the earth is round … […]
It is well and truly around Tommy Dewar to say, ” The mind is like a parachute, it works better once opened.” Conversely, a closed mind will not only be to external thoughts, but also to his own. Such a mind is more resistant to new ideas and thus to new opportunities.
4 – For More Good Solutions
In general, people who are closed-minded have more fears and negative thoughts. They are less able to make good decisions because their minds do not allow them to consider all the different possibilities or solutions. Closed minds tend to fail because they focus on the same ideas over and over again since they cannot evaluate the different options. So by being open-minded we are more inclined to explore the different possibilities open to us and we will have a greater ability to find solutions to our problems.
5 – For More Creativity
In fact, openness is part of the creative process. Indeed, going out of our own limited perspectives and exploring other ways of thinking is an important asset to let creativity speak. Creativity belongs to those who see possibilities everywhere and constantly collect information that becomes a pretext for creative expression.
6 – To Better Enjoy Life
All that has been said above demonstrates this, by freeing us from barriers and walls that prevent us from seeing further than the tip of our noses, we open ourselves to life, to the other, and to all opportunities and the experiences she has to offer us. We value people better, we find solutions faster, and we are more receptive to enjoying the beauty of life! Indeed, being open-minded means leaving room for wonder!
Gerry Spence rightly supports this: ” I prefer being open-minded by wonder rather than closed by belief. ”
In Summary on Definition and the Benefits of Being Open-Minded
In practice, being open-minded means that we are receptive to new ideas, different opinions or different points of view as long as they seem reasonable. However, the problem arises when we receive too many opinions from others, and we give them value to all.
To have an open mind implies that we are willing to listen to others’ propositions, even if they are contrary to our criteria. Secondly, it is important to know how to give these opinions the value they deserve and decide if they seem relevant to us, and whether or not we want to apply them to our way of life.
People who lack openness are not very conciliatory, if at all, and are generally afraid of change because they are afraid of the unknown. They refuse to change their opinion and accept the ideas of others. In other words, they are “closed”.
As an Advice:
– Try to think carefully about things before acting or speaking.
– Always be open to learning. You will die internally by stopping learning. The world changes. Do not die with the past, live with your time.
– Try to teach others things about your ideas, rather than arguing about them.
And as Warnings:
– Being open-minded does not mean accepting anything and everything. Always start by listening to others’ point of view, but think about it rationally, without automatically believing it.
A Thought to Finish:
“You never pick a few things with your hands closed. ”
Here you now know how to define yourself and introduce yourself to being open-minded – as well as the benefits of being open-minded. Are not you trying to know how to become open-minded and especially how to develop your open-mindedness? Well, it’s simple, we give you the opportunity: just click on this link: How to have and develop the openness of mind?