Showing posts with label open minded. Show all posts
Showing posts with label open minded. Show all posts

15 Habits of Extremely Happy People

Happiness is every person's goal in life. Even though most people have no idea of what to do to be happy and what happiness really adds up to. We all strive to stay relevant to our goal.

1. They are not self-absorbed

This is a person that generally does not make everything about themselves. They are open-minded and allow their thinking to go beyond their heads. They welcome other people's suggestions and criticism. They don't take other people's opinions about them personally. They build their character based on well-thought out choices and opinions. They positively accept correction from people and also appreciate other people's way of life.

2. They are appreciative and contented

Being contented and showing appreciation is a character trait that most people don't have. They take a lot of things for granted not knowing they deprive themselves of the small joys of the world. Being able to appreciate someone else for how they have dressed, made their hair, their new pair of shoes, being able to see the other person laugh and smile and having contributed to them having a nice day is even a greater way of being happy.

3. Making alone time and meditating

This is a vital part of being happy and knowing yourself better. Having alone time helps one check on their character, know what makes them happy, sad, set life goals, etc. When meditating, one learns what to focus on with life, what makes their life better and how to better themselves. Making sure to have some alone time also keeps someone in a peaceful mood and helps them to face their fears.

4. Doing things that make them genuinely happy

Being happy is a full-time job, so each of us needs to find what genuinely makes them happy and avoid hypocrisy. Doing what genuinely makes you happy will help someone from harboring hate and toxic feelings caused by forced happiness and pretending to be happy for everyone else's sake. Most people have an illusion of happiness and they don't try and find genuine happiness or what activities genuinely make them happy. So they end up feeling unfulfilled and sad. So, finding genuine activities that make you happy is a great step to being extremely happy.

5. Having a positive attitude towards life

Life brings a lot of challenges with it and the sad part is life challenges are inevitable. People have to find better ways to cope with that. People with positive mindsets have it easier when difficulties come to their path. They see problems as challenges that they have to face to pass a given stage and enable them to relate to things in a better way. Those who are afraid of challenges will always feel condemned and sad because they never know their way through.

6. Being at peace with yourself, friends, associates, and family

You should try, as much as possible, to be at peace with those close to you. These include friends, family, work associates and, even your partner. These people play a major role, what they do can directly affect.

7. Enjoying every moment

Most people take for granted moments spent with other people; either playing, out for coffee or chilling in the house and even time spent with their family. They fail to maximize the fun they would have had during these times. This is also a way of harboring regrets and unfulfilled moments that people have. Hence having bad days and tough times.

8. Respecting yourself and not settling for mediocre

People who know what they want in life don't settle. They know their purpose, set goals and work towards them. Despite the challenges they might face on their way to success, such people don't give up. They are grounded and they don't settle for mediocre results that are unfulfilling to them. They know their self-worth and they work at achieving what they set their minds to.

9. Staying healthy

Health is a major contributor to happiness. This entails having good eating habits. Make sure you have a balanced diet, take lots of water and make sure your meals are hygienically prepared. This will help you avoid sicknesses and stay healthy. Exercises also helps people stay in shape and avoid diseases caused by unhealthy eating, it also helps someone unwind and feel relaxed. Ensuring one is clean by bathing, putting on makeup, perfume. This helps boost someone's confidence and makes them feel good about themselves.

10. Rewarding and feeling good about yourself

Everyone loves gifts and being appreciated. Most people forget that you can buy yourself gifts, appreciate yourself and feel good about it. We all have our shameful struggles or our bad habits that we aren't proud of. When you stop a bad habit and no one notices, treat yourself out, buy yourself some new belt. People might not know how big a deal the situation was or how much you struggled with it. Awarding, and giving yourself credit for it, is not a bad thing. This will help you see yourself as an achiever and will also boost your self-confidence.

11. Surrounding yourself with people and things that bring positivity in your life

The people and things someone surrounds themselves with say a lot about them. They highly contribute to someone's character and thinking. If you surround yourself with people who are always about the positive side of life and encouraging one another to be better versions of themselves, then there are high chances that that is the kind of person you will be. This character building technique is important in our lives. You should be careful who you relate with because they influence you in a wonderful way.

12. Treating people with kindness, respect and being happy for them

One can create happiness by seeing other people happy. This is also a way of trying to live a fulfilling life. Help people out when you can, reach out to them when they need your help. Visit the patients in hospitals, help out in orphanages, give food to the homeless. You feel fulfilled when you are able to make someone smile and be happy. Treat your friend who delivered a presentation. These are some of the ways in which being kind and helpful to others can bring to you happiness through these simple gestures.

13. Not comparing yourself with other people

Comparing yourself, your personal achievements and successes with those of other people is not a healthy way of being happy. Most people forget that everyone is totally different from others and we all have different struggles in life. Comparing yourself to other people is an injustice to yourself and you end up degrading yourself and end up leading some sad, unmeaningful life. You should try and better yourself from what you have. You should not consider another person's success makes them better than you for any reason. Focus on bettering yourself on what makes you happy and fulfilled. Make your own path to achieving your goals and dreams.

14. Have life-improving goals

Most people settle for what they are offered even when deep down they know it is not what they want or deserve. This ends up making them feel less of a person or not fully recognized by people. Make sure you set goals that help you become a better person. Either mentally, financially or physically. Strive to make the best out of yourself and when faced with challenges don't despair. Make the best out of your worst experiences.

15. Allowing yourself to be human

We focus so much on other people and make considerations for them rather than for ourselves. We forget that we also hurt, feel, cry and make mistakes. A lot of people are so focused on their mistakes and setbacks, they forget that they also fall, fail and make mistakes, which is okay. They should accept that mistakes are inevitable, and you can always make the best out of them and learn something. Forgive yourself as often as possible, accept your faults and apologize when needed, or when you know you are at fault. Don't forget, you are just as human as everyone else and, just like them, you also can make mistakes and be at fault.

Conclusion

We are all entitled to being happy and finding fulfillment in whatever we decide to do with our lives. People should realize their happiness solely depends on their choices and perception about life and what it brings with it.


https://ezinearticles.com/?15-Habits-of-Extremely-Happy-People&id=9975274

Message From the Universe: Looking at Life With a Different Lens

dog

"I wish for you flowers and sunshine, gentle breezes and clear skies, calm seas and rainbows. But, perhaps most of all, I wish for you the glorious breadth of experiences you are now poised to receive, so that these tidbits are mere icing on the cake of a life that's rich in adventure.

Huge hug,
The Universe"

Stop focusing the on bad things that happens to you and look at the big picture. To make an omelet, you will need to break some eggs. You can't really expect to be successful in life if you do not take any risks. When venturing into something new, we fear that the business wouldn't succeed, or wouldn't make enough money, or whatever other negative thoughts our mind can create. Why not do the opposite? It's not that hard at all. Just a little bit of effort and focus, the rest will come easily. Do not worry about the amount of hours you need to put into work to make it successful as all ventures requires different level of investment on your side. Quality is crucial, even though we focus too much on the quantity of hours we invest and forget what's really important. Work smart, not hard. Be open minded when it comes to different opportunities and see how you can make things better by changing things around. Sometimes all you need is a small tiny change that can make a huge difference in your business. Invest the time to know what that might be and the rest will come easy. Do not despair, the solution to all your problems is right around the corner.

After the rain and storm comes the sunshine and rainbows. We need to live through some storms to enjoy the good times coming into our lives. This is how the concept of appreciation is purposely integrated in our mind. IF all was great all the time, how can you appreciate anything? Same goes for entitlement and how people can feel like they are owed everything because of who they are. Sorry to disappoint you but life doesn't owe anyone anything. By eliminating this concept from your mind, you can start by looking at things differently, with a more positive outlook and be more appreciative to the good things that happens randomly in your life. Remember that everything that happens TODAY is based on thoughts that you had created 6 months ago. Unless you write down every thoughts you have on a daily basis, it can be hard to remember your thoughts from the past. So just make it a habit to eliminate the bad and allow the good thoughts to fill your subconscious mind and eradicate fear at all costs. You want to focus on what you can do today to guarantee your immediate future, either it be for your financial security, or adopting a new exercise regimen to get healthier so you can live a longer and happier life



http://ezinearticles.com/?Message-From-the-Universe:-Looking-at-Life-With-a-Different-Lens&id=9583509

Psychic Readings, the Big Questions - How to Tune In & Get the Information, Where Does It Come From? (By Carole L Price)

Assorted Tarot Cards On Table

My psychic readings are a source of fascination to many people who have come to know about my psychic ability. They ask a lot of questions and all these point to the bigger picture of how it is possible to do a reading. They want to know what goes on in my head, where do my messages come from, how can I know.

It is not so easy to describe a sense, consider how difficult it would be to describe to someone the experience of smelling, seeing, hearing. These are all experiences through the eye of the beholder and therefore the explanation is likely to be unique to that person.

Trying to explain psychic ability is like trying to explain someone how to make their foot move. It just comes automatically although we are sending signals throughout our body to make it function.

I believe that psychic intuition is innate and that we all have this from birth. Psychic intuition resides in the left side of the brain along with our artistic and musical side. The right side of the brain is the one we use mostly and is where logic and reason exist.

I tune in to the left hand side of the brain by not thinking but rather feeling, accepting and knowing. I am getting the information raw or 'as it is' rather than how logic would have it interpreted. It can take quite a lot of practice and everyone develops in different ways.

When someone comes to me for a reading and asks a particular question I go in to auto mode. I am right there in the left hemisphere and I am making my connection to them. I do not have to have them sitting in front of me as logic would have it.

They could be the other side of the world and I could be giving the reading via internet chat, email or telephone. As soon as they ask for a reading they are making their link to me. In fact we are all one and connected anyway and so I become a channel of information.

I am linking in with their energy and this might not make sense to the logical thinking person. This is why it is so important to be open minded in order to receive a good reading. If you are closed and thinking too logically then you could be blocking your energy.

It is important to be in the right mindset before you give or receive a reading. One way to get on the right wavelength is through meditation. You can remove clutter from your mind and try not to think too much.

It is quite natural to worry about a reading that you might hear some bad news. You will receive honest and direct guidance, however, the readings are for positive guidance. The information that I give will be constructive and given through responsible communication.

There are some people who come to me expecting me to make decisions for them. They may be in a failing relationship and wondering whether to stay or leave. This is not what I do, I empower people to make their own decisions. I tune in and give guidance on what I receive about the relationship.

I could be told something specific about that relationship that could help them continue. I could also get information to suggest that they are being guided towards a new path. They have free will to do what feels right for them in the end.

The information they receive is invaluable because it is sometimes hard to see when you are emotionally involved. People often say that the reading puts things in to perspective and lifts them a little.


https://ezinearticles.com/?Psychic-Readings,-the-Big-Questions---How-to-Tune-In-and-Get-the-Information,-Where-Does-It-Come-From?&id=9812760

Patience Is Like A River

Close-up Photo of Woman Tying Her white Sneakers on Running Track

When living life, there is nothing to be but patient, understanding and tolerant, because life is up moments and down moments you have to flow with even when you are not in the mood to flow with them. Think about it, then act rationally on the ideas you get. However, the worst thing you can do is to give up on it all like a river unnaturally stopping its flow. Giving up is the worst thing you can do especially when it seems the worst. When it seems the worst, you can change directions like a real river does when boulders fall into it or whatever obstacles to it come up. The best thing you can do is what you need, even when you do not feel like working or whatever, because failure is the ultimate trickster, especially the temporary kind that is permanent seeming. Some of the best successes have come after this "reality" because a person decided not to quit because of the seeming disaster. They somehow saw the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.

So, when living life and existing through everything, there is nothing else to be other than patient, understanding, tolerant and reasonably open minded about all things. Open mindedness of the sort I am talking about is the key to the door and the light at the end of the tunnel I speak of. Because some of the most closed minded people quit after that first try if they do not get "lucky" or have good fortune with that great idea at that first try.

If you really want it, you can have it. But first, you must be patient, tolerant and open minded like a flowing river that flows even with obstacles and barriers in it. If one way does not work, try another. If another way does not work, go on. For, the natural river is saner than the unnatural person trying to force something to work that does not work instead of changing course and idea to work with a situation until genuine success is garnered or gained.

I was repetitive in this article, not to "just be repetitive", but to teach an important anger and impatience management skill I have learned over the years and all I have lived. I mean, real success after all is patience, understanding, tolerance and open mindedness as I describe it. Sure, there are other definitions, but for me, that is as naturally beneficial and realistic as it all gets.
"A winner never quits and a quitter never wins."
Napoleon Hill, "Think and Grow Rich"


https://ezinearticles.com/?Patience-Is-Like-A-River&id=8096208

How To Be Open-Minded

deep blue eyes

I showed you that you don't think logically most of the time and you don't observe your reality with objectivity. You have to be open-minded and reasonable.

However, you have inherited many negative tendencies and you cannot simply decide to be open-minded. Your negative tendencies don't let you have a positive attitude.

You tend to be stubborn and think based on subjective arguments.

When you are stubborn you are absurd because you follow the logic of your anti-conscience, which has a logical appearance but is illogical because it is disorganized, misleading, and cruel.

Your anti-conscience justifies the absurd thoughts it sends you based on selfish concepts. Therefore, when you follow these thoughts you disregard your objective reality as it really is. You live in an imaginary world.

Your anti-conscience is a primitive conscience that can understand only what is bad. It doesn't understand the meaning of goodness and it doesn't believe in happiness. By following its thoughts you will end up in terror and despair, but you believe that your evil self is smart. You don't understand that it is idiotic and self-destructive.

You have to stop following the absurd thoughts sent by your satanic anti-conscience in order to be able to think logically. You cannot accept having a stubborn attitude.

Your anti-conscience doesn't need to justify your stubbornness, since it makes you like to be evil. It makes you like to make everyone suffer because of your negative attitude, without a reason.

Whenever you are stubborn you are controlled by your evil nature. The demon you have inherited in your brain replaces your ego.

Instead of accepting the demon's absurdity, you have to tame this monster and transform it into a human being.

When you examine your reality you believe that you are in an unfair situation.

Why should a poor human being like you have to tame a terrible demon?

I told you many times that it is not your fault if you have inherited a terrible demon in your brain, but the truth is that you are a demon who received a human conscience from God in order to be transformed into a human being.

This means that you originally were only a terrible demon, but God gave you the chance to become a human being by giving you a conscience that thinks based on human standards. So, you are not in an unfair situation. You have the obligation to use your conscience in order to transform your personality.

You have to recognize that you have to learn how to think logically and you have to respect your moral principles.

If you will be stubborn and refuse to evolve you will face the tragic consequences of this mistake in the future. So, it will be your fault if you will let the demon that lives in your brain destroy your conscience and you will never become really human.

You will have many mental health problems, and a tragic destiny. You won't use God's gift in order to evolve and become a saint.

You will never be able to abandon the vicious circle of hatred and revenge and live in a hell.

You must be afraid to be stubborn because stubbornness is a satanic attitude that destroys your conscience and your life.

When you are stubborn you have an illogical attitude that is justified by erroneous concepts and is imposed by your evil nature.

You must learn how to avoid being stubborn through dream analysis, even though you have the absurd tendency to be unreasonably obstinate.

God helps you understand the importance of flexibility thanks to the messages He sends you in your dreams.

You must avoid having the negative reactions imposed by your evil self. You must have human reactions based on goodness and compassion in order to become more intelligent and evolve.

You are used to think based on your anti-conscience's rational level, but you must think based on a higher level of consciousness in order to find peace and happiness.


https://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Be-Open-Minded&id=9690285

Strive for the Mountain Top


Don't walk where everybody else walks, it's a reason it's called the beaten path. There will be many that will offer you their advice as to what is good for you. You separate the good information from the bad. The process is called discernment. I advise you to first listen to your self. Welcome change with open arms. Resistance to change will hinder your advancement. Nothing avoids change. Your values should never be compromised but enhanced. Your character should be of the utmost but open minded. Your conviction should be strong but also willing. Our perception of what life is about is based in our values our experiences and our ideology. Some will tell you accepting defeat in some situations is acceptable. You will live to fight another day is a very true and exacting statement. Though this statement is true I disagree with accepting defeat. Life is a learning process and every situation is an opportunity to improve upon that situation. When you settle for defeat that is exactly what you get. The substances of self consist of experiences, beliefs and situations. The substance is invaluable, significant and distinctive. How we manage those situations, events and circumstances is vital.

Your opportunities to succeed are larger than your opportunities to fail. The magnificent gift of life is a gift that is given only by one. The gift is the reason we all are here. There is no gift bigger than the gift of life. It is not to be wasted or unappreciated. When we strive to make the best of our selves we also strive to make the world better. The pursuit of a better life is measured by the road traveled not by arriving at destination. We will discover who we are by not conforming to others opinions of who we are but by conforming to the gifts given to us. The better we manage the lane given to us the wider the lane gets. The more we guard what we say, what we do and what we hear the sharper we become. The inner ear is a true source for knowledge. It will never tell you anything but what is good for you. We just have to be willing to listen. The more we listen the more we gain. The more we appreciate our selves the more we appreciate others. The drive to succeed has to be fueled from what's inside you. It will give you conviction a necessary building block needed to reach your pinnacle.

When transform instead of conforming, we allow the gifts of life to be utilized. When a gift comes upon and you and you are not ready for it, it will pass you by. Spiritual and fiscal responsibility prepare you for a gift that has already been bestowed upon you. To most, this statement is grammatically incorrect. It talks of the past tense giving to the future tense. It also describes faith. If you truly believe something, it will convict you. Conviction is a substance to build upon. When we truly embrace the gifts given to us, our perceptions of what matters will change. Your shortcoming will become opportunities. Once you realize who you are and what you are, the opportunities will become more abundant. Your gifts were set aside for you before you ever knew or realized who or what you are. Where there is cause there is effect. When you put forth the effort, there will be an effect. The effect is dependent on your effort. The effect of believing in your self raises your expectations that you have for your self. In order to get to the top, there has to be more than believing in your self.

Believing in self is good, but sometimes self can get in the way. You need to be guided by faith. Opportunities build character and endurance. With intellect, you can get through anything if applied correctly. Apply faith and it will produce. Allow your gifts to work for you and you will never fail.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Strive-for-the-Mountain-Top&id=9199199

It Only Takes 1 Step to Become a Super Successful, Bona Fide Genius


Upon waking up from a life-threatening surgery to remove cancer from his pancreas, Steve Jobs promptly ripped off his oxygen mask, inspected it closely, declared the design unbearably inferior, threw it on the ground and demanded that his surgeon design a better one immediately. More on that in a minute.  
Geniuses are cool, don’t you agree? I mean they buck the system, ignore social norms, invent and create mind-blowing things, rarely comb their hair, write viral articles for SUCCESS.com, make lots of money, and disturbingly often go completely crazy by doing quasi-questionable stuff like cutting off duplicate facial organs, starting innovative cults, writing run-on sentences and killing themselves once they feel they’ve contributed to the world quite enough already.  
The good news? You too can put your mental health on the line, be a genius, create cool things and probably get really rich (and/or possibly clinically insane) in the process! This article is here to show you how in… One. Simple. Step.
But before we get into the nuts and bolts of this whole one-step process, let’s do a quick exercise just to make sure you fully understand the inherent coolness of geniuses and the necessity of you becoming one ASAP*
Take a quick look around you and list all the inanimate and animate objects. Soooo, that’s every object, just in case you’re unclear. It doesn’t matter where you are for this to work. I’m actually doing the exercise with you, too, hopefully to figure out where I’m going with this article exactly.
So for me, I’m looking at an Apple computer screen, a toilet, a globe that spins when the sun hits it (it’s not spinning, but it might be broken), a palm tree, a microphone, a stack of books, three Spanish women and a yo-yo.
Now realize that a genius invented or created every single one of these things—everything on your list and everything on my list, including the Spanish women.
Now take a quick look around at everything besides inanimate and animate objects. And that’s absolutely nothing in case you’re on the far dumber end of the genius spectrum. This is what people who are not geniuses have created.
Also worth mentioning is that geniuses know when, where and how often to italicize things. I’m not exactly sure what that means for me, but we’ll find out when I see what my SUCCESS.com editor does to this masterpiece. [Editor’s note: Nothing.]
So what have we learned so far? Not much unfortunately. But I think we’ve established the groundwork that geniuses create and italicize almost absolutely everything, and everyone else… I dunno… is working for the geniuses I guess.  Geniuses “make the world go round” as they say.
Have you ever wondered where that saying, “makes the world go round,” came from? No, you haven’t. Only a genius would wonder something crazy like that. It came from Pythagoras’ discovery in 6th century BC that the earth wasn’t a flat square—it was round (still is). Do you get it? He made the world go round.
That’s actually not where that saying came from. But it helps make my as-of-yet-unclear-point because the genius Pythagoras was not only the inventor of the Pythagorean theorem that you loved barely understanding just long enough to take the final exam in high school. He was also the inventor of the religion Pythagoreanism, which, among other bizarre things, boldly proclaims that all beans are evil. Not metaphorical or mystical, mind you. Just regular beans—the ones Paleo dieters refuse to eat for some mystical reason. Wait. Now that I think about it, there may be something to this bean thing. Do me a favor. Google, “Did Preston become a Pythagoreanist after writing his SUCCESS.com article?” in like two months or so. Have me Baker Acted if the answers come back in the affirmative. [Editor’s note: I had to look it up. A Baker Act means providing someone emergency mental health services, including involuntary detention, when required. If you already knew that, congrats. You and Preston are certified geniuses.] I’m writing this now while I know for sure I think I’m still sane.
Now… Do you see what I just did in that last paragraph? I don’t. But I have a sneaking suspicion it’s a prime example of the cool sort of stuff bona fide geniuses do. I basically blacked out for two minutes, came to, and BAM… that paragraph was on the screen. To me it seems near impossible that any sane regular person could have written it, but I’m open to severe criticism in comments below. Intense, spiteful, ruthless cyber-criticism is how I grow and improve.
Here’s my point. You may have started suspecting we’d never actually get to it, but here it actually is:
You should want to become a genius, despite the inherent job hazard of permanent psychosis. And you can do so in one simple step. Are you ready for it?
Are you sure?
Don’t shoot the messenger.
Step 1:
Open up.
The end.
I know. You’re disappointed. But before you click out and go do something more practical with your time, maybe let me explain a little. It’s important to understand the power of openness and your power to kid yourself into thinking you’re open, when in my personal experience only about 1 percent of the round earth’s population actually is.
Open mindedness is the very foundation to learning and creating—learning being the prerequisite of creating. Being genuinely open to truth facilitates learning, and being open to the spiritual world that the mind operates in enables creating. Closed mindedness, on the other hand, is the very foundation of you and me never being able to be friends. I mean I may fake like I like you, but just between you and me… I’m faking it.
The problem is that both truth and the spiritual world are scary.
Now let’s take a look at this:

The world’s first ever Closed/Open Genius scale??!! Man I don’t know how I do this, but it is freaking frightening. Good thing I know the secret to being a super genius and not going crazy** or I would for SURE be flying directly into the cuckoo’s nest right now.
This simple Closed/Open Genius scale perfectly illustrates both why you need to become more open minded and why you’re currently telling yourself you’re open minded when you’re currently probably not.
Follow me closely here because I have no idea where we’re going, and I don’t want you to get lost…
Geniuses are geniuses because they have the balls of bronze it takes to open themselves up fully to the absolute terror that is ultimate truth, as well as the self-oblivion that the creative/spiritual world demands as the price of entry.
You may want to copy and paste that last sentence into your list of favorite quotes. I’ll give you a second to go ahead and do that.
Let me say it again, but in a slightly different way to help this really sink in.
Geniuses cut their ears off (Leonardo Da Vinci cut his ear off in case you’re a 1 or a 2 on the scale above), start cults and kill themselves because they have the balls of bronze it takes to open themselves up fully to the absolute terror that ultimate truth offers, as well as the self-oblivion that the creative/spiritual world demands as the price of entry. [Editor’s note: Genius, it was Vincent Van Gogh who cut off his ear.]
Now, I’m using extreme examples with the whole ear/cult/suicide thing, but that’s just to overstate my point for the sake of clarity and make this “funner” to read. Joshua Kendall wrote a great book called America's Obsessives that set out to prove that all great men and women are crazy to some degree. And he proved it with a lot of very convincing examples.
Look at the scale again. Almost nobody wants to be broke, and nobody wants to lose his or her mind. That’s why the 99 percent are content to be #5 normal human beings—delusion is the safest place to be. #5’s have a subconscious fear of insanity coupled with the unwillingness to holistically self-develop to the point that would allow them to crank open their mental faucet and consider that everything they’ve ever believed about life might be wrong without losing their grip. So basically people are scared and lazy.
Do you understand the profundity of what I’m telling you right now? Are you open to the fact that you might think you’re open when you’re actually not very open? Read that question again and think long and hard about it before answering. Personally my answer is “yes.” And I’m so open it scares my mother (who happens to be pretty darn open herself).
Here’s a good test to see just how open you aren’t:
Do you have any theories about life that, on (and under) the surface, seem a little bizarre? I have quite a few. For instance I am 79 percent sure we’re living in a virtual world, and what we consider “us” are actually avatars controlled to a degree by the real us in another dimension. So basically this world is one big video game, and free will is an illusion.
Are you open to the fact that my theory could be true? There are quantum physicists who claim to have proved at least part of it. Are you smarter than a physicist? Can you prove it’s not true? If you can’t prove it’s not true, then you should logically be fully open to the fact that it certainly could be true.
Here are a few more Openness barometers of sorts:
1. If other people don’t think you’re crazy, even at least to a degree? You’re a 5. People thought Theodore Roosevelt was literally out-of-his-mind nutso. In reality, politics aside, he was one of the greatest men that ever lived (read The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt to become more manly). People called the Apostle Paul crazy. They called Jesus crazy. They call everyone crazy who is chasing truth and making a difference in the world.
2. If you do not feel the danger of insanity—if you’re not routinely standing on the slippery slope of psychosis looking, but not going down—you’re not thinking hard, deep or honestly enough. You’re also not reading enough. You’re not a true seeker. You’re not fully open. And you’re almost certainly believing lies to protect yourself from discovering ultimate truth, which would require you to take ultimate action that you know you’re not prepared to take. Because I’ll tell you this… Ultimate reality is scary as a mofo. And it demands the ultimate payment: your life. That’s why most people prefer #5 delusion. It’s safe and comfortable.
I will leave you with this final thought: Steve Jobs was a bona fide certifiable genius who revolutionized the way this world stopped communicating via time-wasting, direct face-to-face encounters. Do not be even mildly open to anyone who says different.
On a serious note, he created stuff about as cool as cool gets.
Steve Jobs also…
…was OCD.
…had a fear of dirt and typos.
…was a clinical narcissist.
…while recovering from life threatening surgery, made his doctor bring him seven different types of vegetable juice, tasted them all and refused to eat because they sucked.
…committed slow suicide by eating nothing but fruit his entire adult life.
The price of genius is openness. The danger of openness is psychosis. But the payoff of openness is greatness. Get a grip and go there.

“To be super successful like Jobs, you also need that X-factor, that maniacal overdrive—which often comes from being a tad mad.” – JOSHUA KENDALL, America’s Obsessives
http://www.success.com/blog/it-only-takes-1-step-to-become-a-super-successful-bona-fide-genius