Open-Mindedness ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms Adj. 1. open-minded - ready to entertain new ideas; "an open-minded curiosity"; "open-minded impartiality" broad-minded - inclined to respect views and beliefs that differ from your own; "a judge who is broad-minded but even-handed"

I really did like this definition of being open-minded and it shows me still today how I can be so close minded at times. For example I might have been taught one thing in early recovery and set that in my mind to be the only way in which things should appear. It probably worked for all of that time because that is what I needed at that time! But to limit myself two or twenty years down the road with the same concept or to force the same concept onto someone else would really show my lack of not being open-minded which in turn would be nothing but pain for me in my recovery and in the recovery of others.

Even though we are taught to take what we want and to leave the rest, which is really some wonderful advice. We do need to however keep a open mind when it comes to someone else belief and what is working for them. We can try whatever they are offering and if it works it does and if it doesn't than that is OK also. But to shut down and say that is a bunch of nonsense wouldn't do us any sort of good at all, in fact it would limit us to grow in recovery, and be able to have all of the benefits that recovery has to offer to each and every person during our walk in recovery. What comes to my mind now is that we are all probably right where we need to be at this given time, which is in fact probably more the truth than not. Being able to recognize this also is a sign of some wonderful growth, to be able to accept things that we are not able to change and of course the wisdom that it takes to know the difference.

Now here is the catchy part. When it comes to recovery, and the way you approach recovery. The people with what they call the God aspect of recovery or HP and the other programs that don't believe in that aspect at all. I think that is where there is so much conflict as to when people shut there minds down and don't listen to the words that are being shared. I also believe that if we could just keep our ears on the message and not on the messenger that we would be able to recognize more solutions than not. I know that there is a program Agnostics and Atheist in AA. They believe the Program of AA works and that you don't have to have a God (so to speak) in order to recover. That is what I believe the Program gives all of us also is the ability to find whatever it is that is going to work for us as individuals. SMART Recovery has you look within yourself, same as AA but they make it more on yourself than on any sort of Power that is greater than yourself. That program also has saved many lives from active addiction and I use some of that in my program as well. One thing is that I love is that I have finally come to realize that I have to find the solution for myself, and that solution that works for me more than likely all of it might not work for someone else but there is still a part that might help someone else. That is why it is so important that we only share our ESH (Experience, Strength, and Hope) and don't give too much advice unless someone is asking for the advice.