Scrub The Windows Now And Then

I recently had an enlightening experience, thanks to participating in the “30 Day Song Challenge” on Facebook. I realized I had closed my mind to virtually all new popular music sometime around the time I finished college in 1996. I had concluded that all good music had already been written, and anything new coming out from now on was just…crap. In fact, I remember saying in high school, when The Black Crowes released “Shake Your Money Maker,” that the Crowes were the last great rock band.

WHAAAAAAAAAT?!?!

Thankfully, my eyes were opened to my own self-imposed and totally ridiculous box!!! I started asking friends for “new” music suggestions, starting with a basis in the stuff I already liked. And my world has been enriched and expanded exponentially – in just a matter of weeks. The image above represents just six of the amazing musical artists I have already grown to love in just a month or so of freeing my mind, my ears, and my spirit to experience and receive and embrace something new.

And this got me thinking…

How many wonderful opportunities and experiences do we miss as parents, spouses, siblings, friends, employees, business owners, neighbors, etc. simply because we have already made up our minds that we already know all there is to know about whatever? What a tragedy! In the words of the great prophet, Morpheus: “FREE YOUR MIND!” And so today, I simply invite you to seek opportunities in the various roles and relationships in your life to open up, invite in, and really embrace new ideas. New perspectives. New rhythms. New language. New risks. Because once you do, you may well wonder why in the world you didn’t make such transformational decisions sooner. And if my simple post isn’t enough to motivate you, here are a few great quotes from others:

There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. This principle is contempt prior to investigation.

Herbert Spencer

The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.

Albert Einstein

Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.

George Bernard Shaw

Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.

Isaac Asimov