If you keep an open mind, you can make your life better than you ever dreamed possible. People often close their minds to new opportunities and friendships because of preconceived ideas. While keeping an open mind doesn't mean throwing caution to the wind, it does mean that you make your mind more receptive.

How can you do this? It's not easy. In order to keep an open mind, you have to stop before you make instant decisions. While gut reaction tends to be correct in many situations, it's not always. Sometimes gut reactions come from previous experiences and have nothing to do with the present situation.

If someone offers you an opportunity to increase your income, don't immediately accept or reject it. Instead, take a day or so to mull over the positives and negatives of the situation. Look at the potential value of the product or service and evaluate the effort to make the public aware of the benefits. Keeping an open mind doesn't mean that you'll throw out every idea or jump on every hair brained scheme to increase your cash. It means that you take your emotions out of the picture when you make a decision.

Simply stop before you decide against an idea. What makes you uneasy about the idea? Is the idea bad? Did the person present the idea poorly? Does the person presenting the idea make you uncomfortable? Once you find the answer to that question, you can examine the idea or plan for weaknesses.

If the person made you uncomfortable, identify why. Perhaps they simply look like someone from your past. Maybe they seemed a little too pushy and in a hurry to get a decision from you. If that's the case, ask them why they need an immediate response. Find out a bit about their background before committing to anything. If an idea sounds too good to be true, it may be. Alternatively, there may be a reason that a company makes a great offer or puts a product on sale.

When you keep an open mind, you won't immediately believe someone insulted you. Consider the possibilities first. If they made a remark to insult you and you react, they've accomplished their mission. If they didn't mean to hurt your feelings, then you'll carry a grudge for no reason. When you keep an open mind and give everyone the benefit of a doubt, you'll live your life in a much more peaceful mode. Reacting to an insult only feeds fire and creates dissention. You are the only one that pays for it with internal turmoil.

Your inner peace can depend on an open mind. If you were always afraid of public speaking but have a great opportunity that requires occasional public speeches, don't pass it up because classmates laughed at you in the third grade. When you keep an open mind, you realize that the past is the past. As an adult, the amount of preparation and even a speech coach can help you overcome your reluctance and make you a great public speaker.

The world is full of possibilities and one of them can be yours. Being open to opportunities and friendships make your life richer but it does require more self-talk and less gut reaction. Try new things you never believed you could do and do them with a light heart. Turn off those "can't do" thoughts. Pressure from negative thoughts only makes life less fun and exciting.

Be your own best friend and talk yourself into keeping an open mind. Give good ideas a chance without covering them up with opinions and bury bad ideas with facts no matter how tempting they seem.