I have been in meetings the last couple of days where I was struck by either someones intense intellectual curiosity and insatiable appetite to learn and try new things or another person’s complete opposite reluctance and unwillingness to learn. In one meeting I could hear both sides. The learner is asking, “Why do we do it that way?”. The other person will say in the same conversation, “We have tried it that way before and why would we want to do it any differently?” It’s fascinating to watch and listen. It makes me wonder why we slow down our learning and in some cases just allow our minds to calcify. As I write this I am with a group of people who are on the front line of changing the way we educate and retrain people using technology. They are all learners and open to new and different ways of getting things done. Even among themselves there aren’t many of the people who resist the new. When you are with these kinds or people the feeling of the room is full of positive energy and optimism. It is almost palpable and certainly evident on the faces and the body language of each person in the room. it began to make me wonder why some people want to take in the new, have others reveal to them what they don’t know, and then there are others who put up one barrier after another to other feedback or advice. The Bible tells us that we are to be open to the words and advice of others. As such, I believe that we are to be open minded to new ideas and ways we do our work. To close down and not accept advice and instruction is to be foolish. We see this in Proverbs 19:20;”Get all the advice and instruction you can, and be wise the rest of your life.” So today when you are hearing from others that there is a “better way” and your first reaction is to shut them down and not listen then try listening and looking at what the others are saying in a different way; optimistically, with an open-mind, and with a positive reception. What you are likely to find is that not only will you feel more positive but that others will react to you by delivering back their own positive vibes. If we are open to this advice and instruction we can be filled up with all kinds of found wisdom. Yes, fill it up, please.

Proverbs 19:20, (New Living Testament)