I remember watching a talk given by Wayne Dyer where he shared his philosophy of being someone who is open to ideas.
He demonstrated his point by stating that if he were to be suffering with haemorrhoids and someone said that sitting on crystals would heal them, then he’d buy himself a crystal toilet seat!
What he was doing was highlighting the difference between looking for all the reasons why something cannot work versus exploring ideas that might work. And this applies to anything – not just dealing with haemorrhoids.
It’s all about intention. Is your intention about finding a way to solve a problem or is your intention about finding all the ways to keep your problem?
If your intention is to solve a problem, then the only way to find a solution is to be open to ideas for a solution. Of course, not all ideas will bring about the right answer for you. But each idea is worth exploring because it’s like a stepping stone on to the next idea.
My coaching mentor, Mary Morrissey, uses the analogy of pumping water from a well – that at first, the water coming up will be brown and undrinkable, but if you keep pumping, eventually you’ll reach water that is crystal clear.
The same goes for ideas.
Exploring ideas, even ridiculous sounding ones, opens you up for even more ideas to flow through. At first the ideas that come through might seem silly, but if you remain open to exploring them, you’ll open yourself up to receiving even more ideas. And eventually, the real gems will come flooding in.
