Open Mind Archives - Page 6 of 25

January 21, 2023January 21, 2023 by Pete Wiley

Rebellion—Embracing Your Essential Self

Do you consider yourself rebellious? There is an intensity to the word rebellion that suggests a significant and robust opposition. To me, it also indicates a solitary position—of being alone in opposition to something. From the perspective of personal identity and growth, any mindset or behavior that goes against expectations can be an act of rebellion. These may be as important as moving away from expectations that have been ingrained since childhood or as simple as a fashion statement. However, none are insignificant. When you act in a way that is true to your essential self and away from societal or personal expectations, you act rebelliously in the most healthy way. It will help you grow, find confidence, and give your life more meaning.

December 24, 2022December 15, 2022 by Pete Wiley

Listen and Consider—Opening Up to Others’ Ideas

How attached are you to your opinions, ideas, and values? In some ways, they’re a part of who you are. They came to you through your experiences, influences, and effort. It’s easy to be defensive if any of these are questioned or challenged. You also may be very attached to a way of doing things, especially in a professional context. If you’ve thought through all the possibilities and consequences and worked hard to develop an approach, it may be challenging to hear opposing opinions or questions about whether yours is the right way to proceed. But the fact is, no matter how much work you’ve done, you likely have not considered all the alternatives or consequences. Others can bring their experiences and perspectives and ultimately make ideas stronger. Defensiveness, in any context, is usually indicative of a closed mind—an unwillingness to consider options.

December 10, 2022December 8, 2022 by Pete Wiley

Transcendence—Assimilating Your Life Experiences Toward a Positive Future

What does it mean to get past something or get over something—a tragedy, for example? It doesn’t mean that it’s not with you anymore. It doesn’t mean you didn’t learn from it. It means that you’ve somehow put it past you to some degree. This might mean that you’ve been able to get back to some semblance of a normal routine. It might mean that it isn’t dominating your emotional state anymore. Moving beyond an event means incorporating that experience into your lifetime of lessons and insights. It’s about gaining a heightened perspective on yourself and how you interact with your world. It’s about transcendence.

in Mindful / Open Mind 1 comments

November 12, 2022November 10, 2022 by Pete Wiley

The Fluidity of Friendship—The Evolving Nature of Our Connections

The people you know are not the same people they were when you met.

People change—sometimes little by little, in subtle ways, and sometimes dramatically—but, ultimately, we all change all the time. We have to be open to changes in the people we know—even those we have known intimately or for a long time. If we expect people to stay the same, we will invariably be disappointed or confused. We also have to be open to changes within ourselves. If we find ourselves wondering why we aren’t reacting the same way to what is happening to us, it is because we are experiencing life as evolving, growing people. We constantly respond to the events in our lives in different ways, whether we know it or not. Once we embrace this fact, we will be able to handle life’s twists and turns with a sense of wonder and excitement instead of worry and foreboding.

in Emotions / Open Mind 0 comments

October 29, 2022October 21, 2022 by Pete Wiley

Awestruck—How to Keep a Sense of Childlike Wonder

When we are children, so much of what we experience is new and exciting to us. Childlike wonder is a marvelous thing, and no other feeling is quite like it. It is excitement in the very heart of our being. Part of the feeling is due to the newness of childhood experiences—we’ve never previously considered them as a possibility. As we get older and have a range of experiences behind us, our ability to recapture that feeling falls off dramatically. We may still have new experiences, but they have familiar elements—they aren’t completely foreign to us. When we get to this point in our lives, we risk becoming jaded—not even being open to the kind of childlike wonder that we experienced in our youth. Can we keep the ability to find wonder in the world?

in Open Mind / Proactive / Uncategorized 0 comments