Just a little bit of Glover Gardens musing today because this picture I took in Colorado last year got me to thinking about keeping out versus letting in…I love the concepts of an open mind, a growth mindset and an open heart. Versus a closed mind, a fixed mindset and a closed heart.
An open mind is a curious one that doesn’t know all the answers but finds joy in seeking them. An open mind can embrace new ideas that contradict traditional thinking and accept that change is the only constant. An open mind finds a way to work with others to make changes positive and fair rather than flailing against them. An open mind strives to understand others who are different rather than judging them for their differences. An open mind celebrates diversity. An open mind practices mindfulness, and listens – to people, the world, nature, invisible signals.
A growth mindset is one in which we embrace challenges and don’t fear failures but believe we grow better and stronger as a result of them. With a growth mindset, we know that we can learn new skills and abilities rather than thinking we just have to make the best of what we were born with, or feeling like we’re somehow less valuable than others, or stuck. It’s about constant personal evolution, lifelong learning and getting as much from the journey as the destination.
An open heart is the hardest. It’s a grateful heart that values acceptance and love over perfection. An open heart loves fully and isn’t afraid to be vulnerable, knowing that sometimes being hurt is inevitable in human relationships. An open heart is one that has been broken many times, and knows that it will break many times more. It’s a heart that can forgive, and can seek forgiveness for its own wrongdoing rather than shrinking away in shame. It’s a heart that not only loves others, but loves its own unique, beautiful and flawed self. And not only forgives others, but forgives its own unique, beautiful and flawed self.
None of these ideas are unique to me; they’re just truths I’ve learned along my own journey. The truth about forgiving yourself might have made a difference for my late brother, so I’m sharing them all with you, with a grateful heart. I know I haven’t made it all the way up the openness mountain, but I’m still climbing.
And of course, because it’s what we do here at Glover Gardens, there’s a haiku. That sign just screamed for it (I was listening for the signals 🙂 ).
Peace to you.
Note: all photos were taken over a couple of absolutely wonderful days in Colorado in late September, 2018 as I was practicing the open mindset approach of learning new skills, in particular my DSLR camera.
Follow up – I neglected to mention that it was this post from Melinda Green Harvey’s blog that inspired me to find my No Trespassing photo.
https://melindagreenharvey.com/2019/09/20/yes-i-kept-out/
Thanks for being my muse, @Melinda!