The will to consider the new, the unfamiliar and the different, which does not extend just to book work, but to all avenues of societal interaction that a school enables us to be exposed to.

TO BE OPEN–MINDED: to be unbiased, unprejudiced, accepting, tolerant, broad-minded, non-judgemental….

What an amazingly harmonious, inclusive, secure, celebratory and varied society we would have – if this were the conscious focus of our education for our students, staff, parents and families.

Some people can be a little dubious about being Open-Minded, in case they may be perceived as having no standards… no barriers… no guiding principles… as if to say, your mind flops around unable to make up its mind. Contrarily, however, open-mindedness is precisely the opposite: it is the capacity to arrive at judgements, standards and definitions BECAUSE other challenging ideas HAVE been considered or alternatives have been received and aired.

Others amongst us like to believe we are OPEN-MINDED because it flatters our personal sense of fair play, reasoning and good life choices.

However, thinking habits are sneaky and can cushion us into interpreting what we know, how we behave, decisions and choices we make as being ‘right’ because they seem so from our upbringing, because they come from people we value and because it is hard to understand ways of being and thinking outside ourselves as anything but ‘the norm’… because these are ‘our norm’.

How Can We Become More OPEN-MINDED?

Listen: do not ‘look’ like you are listening basically to arrive at that point where you can say what you want to say… but LISTEN attentively in order to receive and respond to what you are hearing.
Accept: that you are not necessarily the expert in all things… even when you are an educated, informed, eloquent individual… and have much to offer… you still have much to be offered in turn.
Be humble: accept the capacity: to make mistakes, to not know… it actually takes a lot of strain out of your life.
Welcome the unexpected: welcome serendipity. We live in such a fraught, time-bound, regimented life things that don’t go to plan typically get in our way …but try every now and then to accept that possibility can drop in your lap and that possibility is actually all around you. You know that weird thing where you have never previously noticed a particular type of car until you buy one - and then suddenly it’s everywhere? Or that other weird thing where you have been thinking about someone or something…and then, out of nowhere you suddenly bump into it/them?
Let the universe take care of things sometimes… As a child, Hans Christian Anderson would often accompany his grandmother to the local ‘lunatic asylum’, where she was a gardener and would while away his time there in conversation with various patients. Many of these Open-Mindedness unplanned and random chats later inspired those world-renowned fairy tales that have endured through generations…on from his ‘Snow Queen’ to later inspire Disney’s Frozen ….talk of tales of the ‘unexpected…’ ?!

Possibilities are all around us …all the time… there is no better time maybe than that inspired by a Covid lockdown to be receptive to the possibilities that we are otherwise too busy to notice:

So, whenever possible, try not to get annoyed or frustrated… try to get curious…

During Covid – when routines have been turned on their head…or we have to impose our own without externally monitored time demands …try experimenting with routine… just as our bodies ultimately respond well to a workout, after initial gripes and strains…it’s good for brain health to give it some thinking exercises too…challenge this smug beast (called our brain) with quizzes, foreign languages, or a different instrument, a different interest…

Think differently – laterally - maybe don’t go straight, go around - don’t think ‘you’…think someone else… Jonas Salk, who discovered the polio vaccine, claims he did so by trying to think ‘not like a doctor, or a researcher, but like a virus…’ haaa!!

Like the notion: ‘A Change is as Good as a Holiday’ an Open– Mind SCREAMS ‘POSSIBILITY!!!’ A Mental Vacation Awaits ….

In the words of the late, great David Bowie – when you most want to run towards familiarity, ease and comfort, try to … ‘turn and face the strange and unfamaliar'…

Kia kaha.

In this issue

"Winners of the University of Otago Yr 11,12 and 13 Quiz"