Practising inclusiveness keeps our brains flexible and supple; ready to meet new challenges more effectively and constructively.
Inclusiveness requires that we maintain:
- A temporary suspension of immediate judgement and categorisation. We give ourselves the permission to wait and see how a situation will play out, to see what new information may be revealed.
- An attitude of openness to differences and otherness. We may be hardwired to leap into quick judgement and categorisation when faced with new situations. Staying open to possibilities forces us to consider a given situation m9re objectively and across a wider context; beyond our conditioned responses and ego.
- A state of safety, esteem, and abundance. When we believe we are safe, OK within ourselves and that he world is abundant, we can avoid mind-closing defensiveness and the fear-driven need to maintain status quo assumptions about our world.
- An active awareness of our self; the internal self-talk, thoughts, assumptions and feelings triggered by a situation. With awareness comes the opportunity to improve and grow. A closed mind is lazy.
- A tempered ego that allows assumptions and beliefs to be questioned and evolved as required. This considered adaptability is critical to our ability to respond to change.
- A win-win approach in the seeking of commonality and mutually beneficial outcomes. A closed mind seeks only to maintain and protect the self and/or the status quo.
