In my last post, I wrote about the concept of plasticity. I stated that part of the definition, as I was using the term, included the willingness to both look at and see things in a completely different way than that to which we have become accustomed, both in the world within and the world without. It also includes the willingness to think in a different way from that to which we have been accustomed.
The willingness to do this is what allows us to grow and evolve. As soon as a person becomes closed to looking at the world in new and different ways, to being open to seeing things from different perspectives, and to being open to thinking differently about things both in the world within as well as the world without, they start the process of fossilization. In yoga, it is believed that you are as young as your spine. The same thing applies to mind. As soon as it becomes closed to new and different ways of seeing and thinking, and to seeing and thinking from different perspectives, the mind becomes old in the same way as a body that never moves or stretches. Thus, in some ways, a person can cease growing and begin to fossilize at the age of twenty.
I am not saying that doing this is easy, because it can be very difficult. However, the willingness to being open in these ways is what allows us to make new discoveries and explore different worlds. Along the way there is always the opportunity for new adventures and unexpected delights that we would have missed had we continued to see, think, and hear in the same way as we always have done.
March 20, 2016 at 4:57 pm
Great post Sonia!
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