Personal Well-being Centre Forums

Individuals who are open to experience are able to listen to themselves and to others and to experience what is happening without feeling threatened.
Brian Thorne

This topic focuses mainly on openness to experiences (rather than open-mindedness or frankness). Some experiences increase our energy, while others drain it away. So, it is important that we can regulate to which ones, and to what extent, we open up. Being mentally closed causes boredom and emptiness in life. On the other hand, opening up too much can make one exposed, vulnerable and oversensitive, which can result in feeling hurt or overwhelmed. Moreover, certain situations (e.g. confusion or surprise) make us open up even if we don’t want to. This is why, especially in new situations, it is safer to be able to open up slowly and gradually. Being relaxed, reaching out, interest, curiosity, and positive expectations lead to opening up. On the other hand, being tense, shutting down, narrowing your interest, ignoring something or lowering your expectations lead to closing oneself.
 

This exercise should increase your ability to deliberately regulate a degree of openness in various situations. First allow a situation to gradually draw you out (without forcing anything), as much as it is comfortable. To achieve this try to suspend any judgements and just absorb any sensations that you are experiencing in a relaxed state. After that try to close yourself. Do it a few times and compare the effects of both. You can practice this in various situations but, at least at the beginning, avoid situations in which you have to interact with other people (e.g. a party). Of course, you can do the same in relation to your internal experiences.

 
You can open up towards the inside and the outside.
Why is it good to be open towards the world?
·     it enriches your life
·     being closed can make others feel excluded
·     it enables you to recognise new possibilities – if you are not open, you are likely to miss a chance
·     if you are not open, the intensity of unfulfilled desires can increase, which may lead to acting inappropriately.
 
Why is it good to open up towards the inside?
·     this is how you make an experience your own, otherwise even an eventful life may be unfulfilling
·     a neglect of the inner life and its depths can make you dependent on external stimulation.