Tag Archives: openness

acknowledging the obstacles in front of your mind

One of the most immediate things you can do when you aren’t feeling particularly awesome is to acknowledge it. There is something powerful about acknowledging that there is something bothering you. Acknowledging that you have a gambling problem, or maybe a drug or alcohol problem, or an eating problem is usually the first step to recovery. After all, how can you fix something if you deny that anything needs to be fixed, right?

Part of being human is that we have emotions and a mind that runs in overdrive. We have an ego. These things are real parts of us that make us special. They have the ability to make us feel really awesome and amazing, but they also have the ability to make us sad and terrible. Well, these things aren’t going away anytime soon, so you may as well work with them to the best of your ability. The ego is there, so just acknowledge that it exists instead of letting it run the show. Sadness will come and go, acknowledge when those moments arise and feel through it.

There are moments when you are going to get upset, maybe at a coworker, maybe at a friend, maybe at a stranger. These things happen even if it wasn’t their fault, even if you were in the wrong. Its ok to acknowledge that, its ok to acknowledge you make mistakes. Its part of being human, its a part of the experience. We all make mistakes. I have made a couple at work this week. I made a big one last night. I was upset, sure, but I still needed to get things done. So I acknowledged it and moved on. One very powerful technique is The Sedona Method: Your Key to Lasting Happiness, Success, Peace and Emotional Well-being. Depending where you’re at in your life, it can seem really out there, especially if you don’t have an . But it works. Basically it involves acknowledgement, acceptance, and then letting go.

Acknowledgement is also a great way to take full responsibility of your actions. In essence, it is taking charge of your life, because, well, its your life!

Being Open

In Yoga, they talk about opening your heart centre.  In many positions, that is one of the most important things to be conscious of.  In terms of Chakras, they talk about opening up your 7 Chakra centres, and in other forms of energy healing, they mention opening your energy channels.

All of that means little and has no relevance if you do not have an open mind.  Everything I have written the past few weeks means little if you are not open to new ideas or new ways of thinking.  Opening up to people is a great way to make connections that otherwise wouldn’t be possible.

Never say never.  I used to think I would be a meat eater for life.  Like, I was the king of eating meat.  I rolled with some of the finest carnivores in the country, and eating meat was basically how we bonded.  The thought of not eating meat never even entered my reality.  When I thought of vegetarians, I actually thought of tree hugging hippies who never showered or brushed their teeth.  And then I read The China Study, and was fascinated.  I had to learn more, so I spent hours googling as much information as I could on the subject.  I ended up reading a slew of countless other books, and I was convinced to give it a try.  It was an open mind that allowed me to make this transition.  It was an open mind that brought me to God, then away from him, then back to him again. And the list goes on.

Having an open mind is key because all of us live with a map in our brain.  Beliefs that when go unexamined, basically direct you through life unconciously.  That’s your map, and you aren’t even sure how you got the map.  It just sort of unfolded itself as time went on and you grew up.  The problem with maps is that the map is not the territory.  How can you know what something is like if you’ve never been there?  The map could be completely wrong and you could get lost in the woods!  Over time, you can refine the map by being open to new experiences.  It might not ever be fully accurate, as most maps never are, but you can get pretty darn close.