Life Lessons
An Open Mind. Some Explorations…
For Henery X, an open mind starts with logic and reason. For me, it starts with intuition. Logic and reason come later
An open mind. Henery X (long) wrote about it and invited me to do the same. And I gladly take up the challenge, Henery. It’s been on my mind for a long time. So why not try to give it words…
He starts his story like this:
“For me, belief consists of logic and reason. Logic and reason make up the foundation that my beliefs stand atop.”
— Henery X
And I wonder. What does it mean to me? An open mind? Without a doubt, I agree with him that
“Perspectives are golden”
— Henery X
But I did lose my trust in logic and reason. So how do I view the world? How do I see the open mind? Let me try to explain.
Burying My Emotions
To give you some perspective, I’ve been a very rational person all my life. My family drowned in rationality. Logic and reason were all. Whenever I threw a childlike tantrum, my mother sent me to my room and told me: “Come back when you can be reasonable.”
I buried my emotions.
Just like my parents did.
I don’t blame them. My parents were children of the war. They grew up during World War II and it scarred them.
They survived by not feeling it too harshly. Buy burying it in a drawer and never opening the closet again. I had a merry childhood. But fierce emotions? I didn’t know how to handle them at all!
Moving on from Rationality
Fast forward. Somewhere in my forties, my world shattered. Several big crises-in-one threw me off my solid rock and I cried. Just cried. All-day long. I cried bitter tears and didn’t know how to stop.
From then on, I decided I would live my best life and I started to learn.
And I found out there’s more than rationality. There’s more than just logic and reason.
This is how I see it:
- We think rational thoughts
- We feel fierce emotions
Both live in our minds and both can take us on a rollercoaster ride. We can be swept away by thinking too hard or by making too much emotional drama.
But there’s something underneath both. And this story by Britni Pepper describes it better than I ever could.
This is the best how-to-story I read in ages! Why? Because it teaches us how to listen deeply without judgment. How to connect to other people in a meaningful way. And how to understand our own minds.
Thanks, Britni!
Her recipe for reading minds is available for everyone:
- Still your own thoughts
- Watch carefully
- Listen without comment
Unburying Intuition
So what happens if we don’t lose ourselves in thoughts and emotions? As soon as we silence our minds, we can hear our intuition.
And my, how wonderful life can be when we get this far!
Intuition is a very calm knowing that’s inside everyone. I believe it lives somewhere in my heart, but maybe I’m wrong there. However, it speaks to me through little signals in my body.
Let me call it: bodily awareness.
It’s a very both-feet-on-the-ground kind of feeling.
And it’s wisdom incarnate.
Deepak Chopra is a physician, specialized in holistic medicine. Author of the Ayurvedic bestseller Perfect Health. He explains intuition very clearly in this 2-minute video.
How to experience intuition? Deepak:
- Still the mind
- Ask a question
- Feel the body
And don’t mix it up with anxiety and fear…
“Intuition should come in the pure clarity of silence and should guide you in spontaneously making evolutionary choices.” — Deepak Chopra
Exit Descartes
When I discovered my own intuition as my main source of wisdom, Descartes stopped ruling my world.
René Descartes is the one who said:
“Cogito ergo sum. I think, therefore I am.”
— Rene Descartes
He’s the master of duality thinking. He separated us from nature, by saying we are machines. We are more intelligent than nature. We may rule the planet and use her as we see fit.
And there, in the 16th-17th century, it all started to go wrong in my perception.
It went wrong with logic and reason.
We listened to Descartes. We started acting like a machine, like a homo economicus. And we nearly forgot we have a heart. And emotions. And intuition.
Due to Cartesian thinking, we rape the planet for our own pleasure and gain. And kill other people because we think they are not like us.
So, my heartfelt request to anyone reading this story: let’s start listening to our intuition more often. Let’s embrace an abundant future as part of nature. A more beautiful world is waiting…
Connectedness
For me, logic and reason come second now. I hear my intuition first and it’s never been wrong so far…
So, that’s my story. I love open minds. I love to listen deeply to people who are completely different from me.
So do I hope some of the people Henery X mentioned in his story will take up the challenge as well. And show us their perspectives on an open mind. Derry Cox Michele Thill NaNa'sworld Selma Aurora Eliam, CMP Sumera Rizwan Terry Mansfield Tom Byers Annelise Lords Amy Marley Keno Ogbo Kevin Buddaeus Dr Mehmet Yildiz KeepingItRealWithAnnick Karen Madej 💛 Gurpreet Dhariwal Chris Hedges Kathryn A. LeRoy, Ph.D. Paul Myers MBA Rasheed Hooda Trista Ainsworth Tim Maudlin Joe Luca Charlotte Zobeir Ali
My own thoughts I already know. Let’s get some new perspectives.
“Perspectives are golden” — Henery X
Thank you for triggering me, Henery.
And if you want to connect, you can find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or my website. Or somewhere in nature where the trees help me connect to my intuition…
Thank you, Mike, for adding your wise energy to my words.
Further reading
About the state of our world right now and how small acts matter
About the author
