A Mind Open to Anything and Attached to Nothing

Dr. Wayne Dyer was one of my spiritual mentors. I never met him in person, but I learned a lot from his books, videos, and television programs. One piece of his wisdom that had a profound effect on me was his advice to have “a mind open to anything and attached to nothing”.

I grew up in a Roman Catholic family. We went to church every Sunday and said our prayers every night before bed. My sister and I went through the whole Religious Education process. I got married in a church to a Roman Catholic man from a Roman Catholic family. Religion was part of our lives, but only in a superficial way. We went to other religious events – weddings, baptisms, etc. We were “religious”, but only on the surface. None of us talked about having a connection with “God” (or “Goddess”, “the divine”, “source”, “the universe”, or any other name you prefer). People who studied spirituality were “weird” or “soft”. Intuitive people were suspected of being frauds, even if it couldn’t be proven.

I was a product of that environment and those influences. Before my “wake up call”, I would have been right there with the others, discounting and distrusting spiritual practices. I decided that someone (or something) was trying to get my attention, so I decided to try to listen.

Once I began spending time with the “weirdos”, I began to have experiences that were hard to explain, even to myself. I began to have synchronistic events, I noticed things working out how I had hoped they would without any obvious action or manipulation on my part. Someone looking from the sidelines would say they were coincidences, or just luck, but from the inside I knew they were not accidents.

I found that as I progress down my spiritual path, one of the most important things I have is the intention to have a mind that is open to anything and attached to nothing. I have run across a lot of examples in my reading of scientists and seekers that gather enormous knowledge and admit that they feel as if they don’t know anything.

For my part, I always say that I am not qualified to say whether something is possible or not, or whether another person is having a “genuine” experience or is “faking” it. I try to keep my mind open. In the end, I believe that you don’t know what you don’t know. I try to accept the explanations and evidence of others about subjects I haven’t had any experience in. I try not to be attached to the traditional, skeptical views from my past.

At the very least, I have had some darned interesting conversations…

What do you think about this? Have you had an open mind your whole life? Is keeping an open mind a constant work in progress, like it is for me? Leave a comment!

Until next time, remember… We are all magnificent.