How to Open Your Mind
When you open up the range of your thinking you increase the
power of your mind. Of course you can increase your mind power
in more direct ways as well. A technique or habit of asking a
few crucial questions anytime you consider something can make
lead to more productive thinking, for example. On the other hand,
opening your mind to new ideas, though it may seem like a more
passive approach, may be the best way to think more deeply and
comprehensively. The first step in this process is to be ready
to be mistaken.
Are You Ready to Be Wrong?
For most of us, being right is very satisfying. At least this
is true on a certain level of consciousness, or in a certain
part of our minds. As a result we often feel better having argued
our point well than having learned something new from our "opponent."
But when you consider this for a moment, it seems clear that
learning new things from others rather than proving to them how
right we are, is more valuable. Nonetheless, when we enter an
argument or even most casual discussions, learning what we can
from the other person is a rare goal.
We can refer to this as the ego level of consciousness. It
not limited to our direct interactions with others, but also
shows itself in how easily we identify with ideas as our "own,"
and how we feel pride in that. When we are enamored of an idea
that we either worked to arrive at or even invented, we don't
want it to be wrong. Of course it's obviously an impediment to
the power of the mind to attach so much value to an idea that
we ignore better ones, or even fight against them.
For a great example of how to open your mind, consider Stephen
Hawking's first idea about information loss in black holes, which
he came up with decades ago. There was no way for information
to survive entry into a black hole, he proved, and for many years
nobody could show any flaw in his proof. The technical aspects
of this are not important here, but this is: The one who finally
proved this theory wrong many years after the fact, was Hawking
himself.
This demonstrates the true mind of a scientist, because it
is crucial to the advance of science not only that ideas and
theories are overturned when better ones come along, but that
individual scientists look for truth above all else - including
above defending their existing ideas. It is the approach we all
need to think in more powerful ways.
Be ready to be wrong. Always accept that there may be better
ideas just beyond whatever is in your mind at any given time.
In fact, know that sometimes a good idea kills creative genius,
because once accepted as "the idea," it stops further
exploration for something more. It halts the process that might
have lead to truly innovative thoughts, theories, products, or
inventions.
Look a little further at all times, and challenge what you
think you know to see if there is some truth that you aren't
seeing right now. Try even to argue against your own ideas in
order to see what others thoughts might make sense. That's how
you open up your mind and increase the power of your thinking.
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