You have been told enough about open-mindedness and for a good reason too. Having a spin of perspectives on life and daily matters goes a long way down the line. 

Reminding yourself, the most important thing about problems and such matters is that they are temporary. Still, such optimism often might not come naturally. You have to educate yourself regarding the tools needed to deal with unfavorable situations – and life in general. 

Choices 

Now, you have heard enough about having the so-called work-life balance in life. To have both your work and your life(be it your family, your pets or yourself) in order. But the reality of the matter is – Life is all about the choices you make. You decide them and then you face the consequences, good or bad(sounds fair enough, right?). 

Not only that, but decision making is also a critical skill for any individual when it comes to choices. It is also a sought after skill by companies in their employees. Having a good sense of judgment about the merits and consequences of the decision at hand allows effective decision making. 

Also, dealing with such decisions with complete responsibility builds a positive and confident character. 

Although analyzing all the factors before making a decision is of critical importance, it is not a bad idea to leave that choice up to your instinct every now and then – intuition you might say. Doing so is said to even improve the life satisfaction of the individual because it makes you feel confident. 

The difference between a highly productive person and that of a lazy one is very often in the decisions they take on a daily basis. This, of course, leads to the difference in their respective lives. 

“Life is a matter of choices, 

And every choice you make makes you” 

John C. Maxwell 

Listen More 

Well, there are a dozen reasons why you should speak less and listen more during a conversation. When you provide your ears with the focus to the other person, it makes you receptive to ideas and even makes them comfortable to share close sensitive information. 

To listen is to pay attention to the individual speaking. By hearing with keen attention to the speaker, you build a rapport in the conversation and connect with the person speaking. 

Yes, people become comfortable enough to open up to you, which they usually won’t otherwise. Just make sure, you are actually taking interest in what the other person is saying. While taking the listening role, you attain a firm grip on the entire conversation. It’s actually the listeners that have the ability to direct a conversation to fulfill the desired objective. 

By incorporating the practice of listening more and more in your skillset, you will eventually notice a dramatic decrease in conflicts and heated arguments. This, in turn, leads to a healthier lifestyle and even healthier relations. Individuals who listen more are found to be better soulmates, friends, family members and coworkers to be around – as in comparison to the ones who do not follow such practice. 

Also, interestingly enough, when you do indulge more in listening to others, making them feel important. So will they, listen more intently when you speak yourself. 

Although balance is key, do not be the complete quiet one. Do not hesitate to raise your opinions and express them. 

Practice Forgiveness 

There is no denial of it. Holding on negative feelings of revenge, grudge or envy to anyone due to any hurtful act committed against you, is not only bad but detrimental in consequences. Both for others around you and most certainly for yourself. 

Solid evidence shows that people who forgive are found to be happier and healthier. As this personality trait directly affects the quality of life. 

Not only that, but it is also found that people who are taught how to forgive become less angry, feel less hurt, are more optimistic, become more forgiving in a variety of situations, and become more compassionate and self-confident. Numerous studies show a reduction in the experience of stress, physical manifestations of stress, and thus an increase in vitality and energy. 

Such negative emotions that the individual is feeling are unacceptable and feelings of forgiveness are the correct and acceptable way to feel. 

It is said that the constant act of unforgiveness “being judgmental” may reduce the strength of the immune system because it puts stress on the individual. 

Remember, the kind act of forgiveness helps to attain freedom. Freedom from anxiety, hurtfulness, anger, victimhood, and depression. The feeling of grudge comes with a heavy burden. One that often only leads to further bad conditions, physically, emotionally and relation wise. 

The light-case scenario being depression. The worst-case scenario being suicide. To let go is to let yourself free from all such negativity. You can forgive anyone for whatever they did to you. Remember, you have a choice to do that. 

The act of forgiveness leads to an immediate reduction in anger, depressive thoughts, and stress – While increasing efficiency, elevating mood, better optimism, and open-mindedness. 

” To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” 

— Lewis B. Smedes 

Although, arguably, it is said that forgiveness is for yourself and often not for the offender themselves. The sense of relief from the heavy burden brings more energy and is worth the effort. 

Fearful Exposure 

Now, oftentimes, the reason for staying in solitude and confining your mind is due to a harsh and painful past experience. Losing a loved one, having a breakup or a physical injury are the few of several examples that lead to fears or phobias. 

Needless to say, such feelings are not supposed to be entertained for long. Holding such fears leads to similar consequences as holding on grudges and envy. While the upside and the benefits are the same as well(if not more). 

Such experiences could be a major source of distress, leading to remorse, shame or even self-hatred. All being extremely bad for a wealthy and healthy life. 

Soon, the question becomes, “How to let go off your deep-rooted fears?” 

While people usually get stuck at this stage, the usual solution is a blunt change in perspective. 

Remember, you are not facing an outbreak, going through starvation like your other global family. You have the luxury to fall in love and break away from this. You have the liberty to be sad and rise up from it. 

Reminding yourself that, “It could have been much worse” has the potential to put you in a whole positive mentality. 

Also, directly facing your fear starting with least difficulty, to rising it, until you can fully confront your nightmare is an excellent proven way to break free from it. 

If you are afraid to talk to strangers. Then starting with a “Hi” and even asking for direction(as an excuse to talk) is a great beginning. Then slowly extending the conversation for up to 2 minutes, till you can maintain firm eye contact in a full-fledged discussion is one of the many ways to deal with it. Starting with a lower difficulty task until you can build your confidence to higher is how you do it. 

Now, Another way to deal with fears is to remind yourself of the things that you are grateful for. It can be as trivial as a beautiful mesh of fallen leaves, that came underneath your feet to make a crisp relaxing sound on the way back home from work. 

By doing so, you focus on the positivity(by choice) that goes unnoticed in your life. And when you do, you summon upon a quick boost of happiness instead of indulging in fears. This can potentially help you to become a much more open-minded person, eventually enabling you to sit with your fears more confidently. 

Self Awareness 

Well, I believe, you will agree that this is one of the most fundamental aspects one should focus on. Even then, the height of ignorance on this particular component of optimism is ludicrous. I can not stress enough the practicality of this. 

Deploying enormous amounts of self-awareness could arguably be the single best thing you can take away from this article. 

And such self-awareness does not come by nature. You have to sit down and actually pull a thorough exploration of yourself.

Here are some of the many questions you must ask yourself. 

Judgment 

Well, this is another big one on the list. The fear of judgment, especially of your own on yourself(and not just of others on you) is by far one of the biggest limiting factors – for the unlocking of the sheer potential of humankind. 

Do you know, the fear of failure stops people from even beginning to live their dreams. This is the difference between winners and losers. If you do not overcome the fear of failure, embracing each failure as a learning aid, you will not win and grow. 

People who are not afraid to look bad, on something they are new at, are the ones who make a difference. If you are not ready to be bad at something new at the beginning, you’ll stay in the same place. You’ll never get good anything. 

Listen, the ability to shield yourself from all the negative opinions from the people that surround you(yes, including your close family and that dear 2 am friend) – on something that you genuinely believe to be the right choice, is nothing but remarkable. 

Furthermore, the ability to stop overthinking and judgment from the person closest to you, that is yourself, is even greater. 

Now, judgment is a double-edged sword. We have talked enough about the judgment of others affecting you. But, what about you judging others? 

Let this be very clear. The second you stop forming baseless prejudice and judgment on others – is the second, their opinions and negative comments stop affecting you. 

Rid yourself of that judgment altogether from every aspect of your mind and life is going to be a full-blown potential for many of you reading this. 

Victimhood 

Now, this is another one of those negative traits that will certainly not help you progress in almost any aspect of life. If you intentionally or unintentionally indulge in constant victimhood, especially in front of others – for sympathy – that is a sign that you have this problem. 

Also, on the flip side, if you’re the kind of person who always finds himself in situations of needing to help other people’s problems – there’s a good chance that you are dealing with such people having victimhood. 

Continuing either of these 2 is not recommended. 

The right approach in dealing with Victimhood is to apply the ability to forgive and accept what is already available. To recognize what is, instead of what has been or the insecurity of what will be.

Dealing with your own victimhood or someone else’s needs a similar approach. Forgiveness is one of those skillsets to shift the perception of life and ourselves.

Such a change in perspective is also a great application of open-mindedness. 

Empathy 

One of the best takeaways you can get from this article’s list is understanding the importance of empathy – and further practicing it. The ability to understand another person who is connecting to you through any medium is one of the best superpowers you can have. 

They say, put yourself in another person’s shoes – but actually, I like to walk a mile in their shoes. Deeply understanding the mentality and current mental state of another person – and even the ability to do so – is a gift. Deploying enormous amounts of empathy to any hateful or bad comment that you receive will be a new upward spiral for many reading this. If you think about it, a person who is leaving negative and unconstructive comments for someone, he is not in a good place himself. 

You do not leave negative and hurtful remarks when you are happy. Realize that, if a person leaves a bad remark, chances are he or she is in a bad situation or state of being themselves. Once you understand that, you can then employ sympathy to that person, knowing that his or her life is not in its best shape. 

By this perspective of kindness and empathy, that hateful commenter is now a person to be empathized with. 

The extent to which people get depressingly affected by the negative comments they get from other people is stunning. But not you. As said earlier, you have now been given the choice to be affected by it or not. 

Moving on, a person who acts empathetic to people, being around him or her is bound to build great relationships. Who doesn’t like an understanding person around them?! Again, such a person will be welcomed in groups, parties, and discussions more often for that skillset. 

All in all, there is a great deal about the tools of open-mindedness and their applications. Realizing how blessed your life is regardless of any problems that you may have is the perspective we all can adopt to stay in an empowered state of being and a positive mindset. 

Train Yourself

All the skills mentioned above and illustrated through an example, are reachable. Anyone can train themselves or be trained to obtain such skills and thus having the ability to apply them.

The skillsets will significantly improve your life, relationships, wellbeing and even further accelerate the advancement of your career.

Check below for a sign up procedure to see, if the Ultimate Students Course is relevant for you.

Enjoy and remember to celebrate our shared human super powers.

To love and care for each other!