A to Z Challenge: Open

I used to hate it when I heard someone say, “You need to be more open-minded.” Usually it meant they wanted you to accept something that you believed was wrong or immoral. But it is important to be open. To new ideas. New ways of thinking. New ways of looking at things.

Learning keeps life interesting. One area where I’ve learned a lot and changed my entire paradigm in fact is parenting. I used to be very set in believing there were very specific ways to parent well – you had to spank, you had to force them to behave the way you wanted them to, etc.

I’ve learned that there are so many better alternatives. I’ve learned that situations can be win-win with our children, instead of the win-lose scenario we often blindly accept. It’s opened up new worlds to me because many of the ideas can be applied to improve other relationships as well.

Being open to other points of view is a good thing. Often when we really stop and listen, we learn. I mean, REALLY stop and listen. This is needed in politics right now. Unfortunately, both sides are usually so busy demonizing and attacking each other, that valid points get lost in the shuffle. And it makes finding solutions to our sizable problems nearly impossible.

Openness is crucial - unless you just enjoy going around in frustrating circles. It can be scary to allow yourself to question established thinking, but oh, how rewarding it can be when you do expand your world. When you know better, you do better. Isn’t that what we all want?