‘Willing to Be Open’ is a key to creating change
May 3rd, 2008 by spaceagesage
“Willing to Be Open” is about becoming more aware of our inner landscape so we can create changes in
our lives. We are like flowers waiting to bloom, but whereas water and sunlight help open the bud of a plant, an attitude of willingness is what fuels our movement into change.
In a previous post, I covered seven powerful tools to create real change based on the work of authors Don Riso and Russ Hudson in their book The Wisdom of the Enneagram. In subsequent posts, I took a deeper look at the tools called Seeking Truth and Not Doing. Let’s take a look at what it means to be Willing to Be Open.
Do you really know you?
Remember hearing about this? “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” — Charles H. Duell, Office of Patents, 1899. Or this one: “I think there’s a world market for about five computers.” — Thomas J. Watson, a past chairman of the board of IBM. Those quotes come from people looking at the outside world with blind eyes. They made their decisions and were not willing to be open. Sometimes we do the same when we look at our inner world. According to Riso and Hudson:
One of the primary functions of the personality is to separate us from the various aspects of our own true nature. It causes us to limit our experiences of ourselves by blocking from our awareness any parts of ourselves that do not fit our self-image.
How many of us really want to see our own flaws? How many of us are willing to look into the metaphorical mirror of the self and scrutinize what we see? Don’t we all have a natural tendency to give ourselves some slack and tell ourselves we did better than most given the situation? By being Willing to Be Open, we open the door of awareness into our true nature so that when we create change it can be real and meaningful. We don’t take a fearless inventory to beat ourselves up or guilt ourselves out, but to see the roots of our actions so we can change.
Stop the inner movie
According to Riso and Hudson, “Life is a tremendous gift, but most of us are missing it because we are watching a mental movie of our lives instead.” Have you ever done that? I used to re-hash conversations in the past over and over in my mind trying to see what else I could have said or done, or I just might replay how angry the person made me. Or I would worry about what I wanted to say and do in a future event. Neither one allows me to be me. In both cases, such mental activities turn me into an actor in my own mental drama. By being the actor on the screen in my head, I am not really living in the moment, and thus unable to open up to different possibilities. Stopping the inner movie helps open us to change.
Willingness opens the door
Self help author Dr. Wayne Dyer talks about “saying yes, yes!” to life, instead of closing off the self. The sheer act of just being willing to change can create new ways to look at the world. “Every moment has the possibility of delighting us, nurturing us, supporting us — if we are here to see it,” according to Riso and Hudson. My favorite affirmation, which comes from another self help author Louise Hay, is “I am willing to change!” Roadblocks can get in the way of willingness. These roadblocks are resistance, impatience, procrastination, etc. The mindset of being Willing to Be Open starts to kick those roadblock out of the way, so you can see where you really want to go.
POCKET-THOUGHT:
Louise Hay writes in her book You Can Heal Your Life:
I have always had a streak of stubbornness within me. Even now sometimes when I decide to make a change in my life, this stubbornness can come to the surface, and my resistance to changing my thinking is strong. I can temporarily become self-righteous, angry, and withdrawn … however, when this happens now, I know … I am going deeper into myself to do this.
Change is not easy, and sometimes just thinking about it can be tough. How can you help yourself be more Willing to Be Open?
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Photo credit: speech path girl
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Change isn’t really easy.
“Willing is not enough; we must do. Knowing is not enough; we must apply.” – Bruce Lee.
You are very encouraging… Thanks for this wonderful post. I learned a lot. 🙂
ineedluv — you’re welcome. Doing is important, but willing comes first, yes, no?
absolutely YES!…, action is useless without willingness. I learned another thing from you. 🙂