I’ve often been asked what it takes to keep an open mind and while I have no magic answer, I do feel that you can govern your heart and mind as a gracious host would his household.
You’ve no doubt had the pleasure of visiting such a host whose penchant for hospitality made you feel special, no matter how untimely your arrival or unexpected your visit. Such a host would never compromise the spirit of welcome simply because you were improperly dressed, unfashionably late or traveling with mixed company. Hospitality begets graciousness and graciousness is the seed of magnanimity.
You have the capacity to be a larger person than you are, but you have to believe in yourself and do the work required to make it so…outside as within.
To begin with, you must learn to be accommodating in mind and heart. One way of achieving this is by making room for new colors, shapes and patterns that may not match your decor, but yet have intrinsic merit. In other words, you must practice at deliberately relaxing your confirmation bias. You need not be so open-minded that you lose all sense of process, continuity, and control, but become too strict in your approach and you will eventually paint yourself into a corner.
Next, you must get outside of yourself. The best way I know to overcome the tendency to withdraw inward is to serve outward. Look around you and there will be ample opportunity to help others, that is, to embrace the spirit of hospitality. Serving others restores the flow of life through you and life always looks to establish conditions which are conducive to an even greater expression of life.
It is so easy to get backed up, to become frustrated by that which is beyond and outside of you. The world will give you a million and one reasons to withdraw. Please don’t! The world needs your originality and that creative expression of who you are and what you are here to bring cannot take root if you retreat into the shadows of your heart and mind.
Take a chance in life and be willing to entertain new thoughts and fresh ideas as a charitable host would shake your hand with both of his. Do so and your world will expand by virtue of a growing network of connections, contact points in the world around you that will likely return the favor of your warm reception. There will, of course, be those guests who will never be invited back, but you won’t know until you give them a try!
Gregory Hake 
Thanks Gregg, this is a great post!!
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Thanks for the productive perspective! Today was very generative and ironically we were invited to an event where many new contacts and connections will be made!!!
Being hospitable is pleasant for all involved!! Then there’s being deeply hospitable….that’s sprezzatura in action!
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An open, fertile mind is aware of what has proven itself to be true, but also welcomes surprise and cultivates generosity of spirit. There is elasaticity rather than brittleness, and a permeating interest always to move beyond what has been known. As in a hospitable home, those in the company of a truly open-minded person feel encouraged to venture. Every day is the perfect day to practice this virtue!
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You mentioned that one of the characteristics to having an open mind is to believe in yourself. I appreciate you mentioning this Gregg as developing a genuine belief in yourself is paramount to truly making a difference in the world and is a lifetime project and process.
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It is an important step in the process!
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An open mind is a natural by-product of an open heart. An open heart is a natural result of relinquishing a career as judge, jury and executioner to….well usually everything! Love this post! This type if thinking leads to a generous life, thanks.
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For sure to explore your world, you have got to take chances. Taking a chance doesn’t imply being reckless about your actions; it’s more about making a decision that will involve unknown outcomes and thoroughly examining all the angles, more like a calculated risk. That can make one a bit hesitant because it forces you out of you comfort zones where your sense of security is challenged, but so be it, for oftentimes we place way too much stock in this sense of security. We want everything around us to always look the same, our friends and families to act the same, our jobs to be the same….but surely this leads to some form of stagnation because the mind instead of being ever so malleable to look upon the world with a sense of spontaneity and wonder (opportunity?), it forces the world to conform to tightly held beliefs. Tensions are thus surely projected and begin to affect not only that person whose mind is in question, but others around who are in close proximity.
I know I question my habits and routines, especially those I start to get comfortable with. I ask myself, woops, is there something I am missing that’s important because I have eased into a groove? It doesn’t always occur of course, but it very well has before and routines have that potential to allow for oversight by virtue of their repetitive nature.
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I’m currently taking a course that involves the study of color. I have been surprised at how the use of colors that are not ones I would usually gravitate to has expanded my awareness of all colors and patterns. Color is a small part of this subject but I was amazed at how refreshing and expansive it was to not restrict myself to the habit of surrounding myself with “my colors”. I think this is a good example of the unfettered life that is possible if we do the same in other areas. I agree the perfect avenue to start this adventure is seeing where we can be of help to others. It opens the door to new vistas under the guiding hand of our higher self.
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What a great approach to life – hospitality! Within the very word, you have open mindedness, graciousness, serving, concern about others above yourself, giving, etc.
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