Today I want to talk about a very, very important concept.
I know that you've heard this little catch phrase before. It's this idea of having an open mind.
I was first turned onto this concept from Ayn Rand. And she spoke about how, when somebody says, 'Have an open mind,' what they mean is, don't be so prejudiced in your thinking and don't be so stubborn, and think about things in a different way.
Unfortunately, what ends up happening if we were to keep this open mind, is that it leads to perpetual skepticism. Because, you can always make the claim, "Keep an open mind, keep an open mind" and you've never arrived if your mind is always open.
On the flip side is this idea of a closed mind. What is usually meant by a closed mind is somebody who is very stubborn, who is stuck in their ways. Their ways don't really make sense. They're very emotional. They're not very practical or logical.
Unfortunately, the closed mind is really a passive mind. It's a mind that is lazy and doesn't want to think about what is being put in front of them.
The reality is that we don't want to have an open or a closed mind.
What we want to do is, we want to have an active mind.
We want to be able to think about things that cross our path. We also want our mind to be active enough that if we see a bad idea coming our way, or something we know to be true, that we've already gone through the process of thinking about, we want to be able to close it off right away. Because it's not going to do us any good.
So for example, in Life By Design, one of the things that we talk about is this idea that chiropractic is good for everybody and good forever. And invariably, somebody will say, "Well you guys think you fix or treat everything." That's a different idea. When you hear that idea, because I've already come to terms with what it is that I do as a chiropractor, I know that I'm not fixing or treating anybody. I don't have to be open-minded to that idea. It's a ridiculous idea. It's untrue.
Another example would be when you've given up grains and you've done all of the hard work to prove to yourself, and you've read all of the the research. In your mind you say, "Grains are bad for me and they're always going to be bad for me." Then somebody offers (my parents are, unfortunately, classic for this) you a dish that's loaded with grains and you say, "No, thank you. I don't eat that, it's bad for me." "Oh, keep an open mind. You don't have to be so rigid. Just keep your mind open." All right, but the fact is that you've already made your mind up. Right? The mind is active. I would never for a second, accept that idea again because I've done all of the hard work to determine my perspective.
So here's the point...
The point is not to let all sorts of garbage into your mind.
If we start letting trash into our head, it's totally going to confuse us and take us completely off track.
When you hear a new idea, something that's completely different than you've ever heard before, it's worth it to take the time and do some investigation before you accept or discard that idea. Don't be afraid to judge. You can't make it through life without judging things. I know that we've grown up and we've heard this idea, "Oh, you shouldn't judge." But the fact is, all of the decisions you make in your life are based on a judgment. Every time you sit down to dinner, you make a judgment on what foods to eat and what foods not to eat. When you end a relationship, or when you begin a relationship, it's a judgment. You're saying, "I want this person in my life and I don't want that person in my life." This all comes from having not an open mind, not a closed mind, but an active one.