Monday Reflection: Open Your Mind - Grow and Go!

I tell people often, always be open. You never know when or how some new information will add value to your life. Many of us know what we know, and what we know seems to be enough. But the saying, you are never to old to learn is very true. In the same spirit, you're never too smart, never too black or white, male or female, rich or poor. There are lessons everywhere you go and in everything you do. But you've got to have an open mind and spirit so the newness can be deposited.

That's just what happened to me last night. Flipping the channels I landed on the OWN network at the beginning of Oprah Presents Master Class featuring Jay-Z. Until yesterday I had never given much thought to Jay-Z one way or another. I never latched on to rap music, so for the most part, I was a tad indifferent.

Yes, maybe like most people I thought this ghetto boy had done good with what he had to work with. But, really, I had never paid much attention to him one way or another. In fact, when his book Decoded hit the shelves, I couldn't understand the madness. So last night, my first impulse was to keep flipping the channels. Jay-Z, hummm, I don't think so. But then something in my spirit said, "So why does Oprah, who has been critical of the rap industry, think Jay-Z is a master?" That one question made me stop in my tracks and watch.

Sometimes the question may not be connected to someone else, like mine was with Oprah. I could have very well asked myself, "Is there anything I can learn from a person I seem to have nothing in common with? Like me and Jay-Z?" However that moment hits you, your mind and spirit must be open to receiving it.

Sometimes our minds are cluttered with so much of what we know, what we think we know, that knowing something new is blocked by the old. But the Bible says you cannot put new wine in old bottles. When Jesus was asked why his disciples didn't fast, but the Pharisees fast often (Mt 9:14:1), he replies by saying, "Neither is new wine put into the old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved" (Mt 9:17) Bottom line, some of that mess in your head should have been thrown in the trash years ago to make room for the new! For Real!!

But some of us are stuck in our madness. Caught in the world of insanity, doing the same thing, over and over again and expecting a different outcome each time. As a result, we stare failure in the face that grows a self-loathing and a cycle of failure. You begin to think this is the only life for you. This is what you deserve and it then becomes a way of life. It becomes your comfort zone, not only for your mind and spirit, but even for our bodies. Some of us refuse to move out of our old environments because the chaos is more comfortable then the exploration of something better. But you can only grow by making yourself uncomfortable.

It's just like the mouse in the book, Who Moved My Cheese. A MUST READ! We would prefer to starve to death rather then step out of our safety zone to find food. Jay-Z said many things that resonated with me and my current journey. But this, "You must always continue to reinvent yourself," validated for me that I was on the right path. Sometimes the journey can seem like you're in the wilderness, but you have got to keep moving, even in the darkness.

I believe you take the foundation of what you have and build on that. It may be something different from what you've done in the past but it's standing on a firm foundation. Yes, it's scary doing something new and different. The impulse is to do what we know, but we have to change our way of thinking, and the only way to change how we think is to add new information to what we know.

But even if you know better, you have to be willing to do better. And just like the little mouse, you may even have to leave your comfort zone, your environment, and your friend's behind to grow, whether it is body, mind or spirit. In the final analysis, to be the best you that you can be, you must open your mind and grow, but you must also go! When you know better you should #DoBetter! To keep your mind, body and spirit in the old, destroys the possibility for the new.

Note: I purchased Decoded this morning. I never thought it would end up on my bookshelves. See, Gotta be Open to Change. I have no expectations for this book... I'm just opened to the possibilities. It also made Oprah's Favorite Things List!