Self Questioning and Open Mindeness
Many times I have thought about the methods that can be used to advance in the area of personal growth, and I have found that one of the best methods is to develop the ability to question ourselves. Many people are too proud or too comfortable with their lives as they are, and disregard or fear changes, or simply don't take the time and work to do it.. some are not even aware that changes can lead to personal growth. They just go on in their lives without questioning their ways, monotonously stuck for long periods of time.
Questioning ourselves challenges us, makes us face the reality that we are not perfect, that we always have room to improve in so many areas, and pulls us down to earth when we feel arrogant.
I have found it that it is difficult to question ourselves without any external input, we usually need another point of view, different from ours, in order to successfully examine ourselves, and be able to see in which areas we can improve. Talking to people with different points of view, and reading books has worked for me very well, and I have learned a lot.
The other factor that comes into play in this issue is open-mindeness, which I define as the ability to be receptive to new ideas, respect them, analyze them, and judge if they feel good enough for us to incorporate them in our lives or not. If we do not learn to be open minded, we'll never learn anything.
I believe that open-mindeness is a state of balance between the extremes of being so stubborn or proud as to not let any new ideas come in and of being so easily influentiable that you follow any new ideas that come you way like a sail in the wind.
Notice how the concept of balance comes yet again. I am convinced that balance is the key to be able to achieve our true potential.
All righty enough philosophy for today, will write some more another day. :)