Be Open
Have an open mind without compromising your own beliefs
Having an open mind means admitting that you may not have all the answers. You also admit that there might be more to the situation than when you first perceive it. When you have an open mind, you allow others ideas to not necessarily change your ideas, but the chance to improve them.
"Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Be sure and confident of what you believe in, but not so confident as to refuse change and improvement. We're also in high school, so this is a prime time to shape our beliefs, ideas, and core values. While we are shaping them, it's not a bad idea to bounce off ideas with other people. You can listen to others viewpoints without compromising your own.
Benefits of having an open mind
You see more in the world
You realize and start to look for things that might be under the surface. With an open mind, your more perceptive to the many options that are out there for you.
Greater patience with others
When you have an open mind, you take the time to listen to others and take into consideration that there may be a logical explanation for their actions that you haven't thought of yet.
You'll actually be more confident in yourself
When you keep an open mind, you know that you are not limited by yours or others beliefs. This gives you the opportunity learn more from the world, finding more evidence for your own opinion, improving your sense of self.
So the next time you...
do a school project, give others ideas a chance, and your work could improve
get annoyed by someone, take a second and look at it from their perspective, because there may be a logical reason for their actions
see someone struggling, think of what they could be going through and what lies beneath the surface of the situation.
Think about how much more everyone could get done if we all took a step back, opened up that noggin of ours, and looked at things from someone else's perspective. In high school and beyond, having an open mind could improve ourselves, our relationships, our community, and our world.