How to Change Your Mind

Static Thinking

If I were to believe there was only a limited amount of activities to participate in or knowledge to be gained, I believe I would become uninterested and jaded. There have been times in my life where I thought I knew what I needed to get by in life.

However, there is much more to life than sustaining oneself with daily activities.

I have mentioned before that during the times in my life where I lose perspective of other people’s ways of thinking, I can become irritated with the process of learning.

We all have varying methods of learning. If I have become stuck in a rut of not learning anything new about life then I am incapable of reaching out to others. Understanding the process of learning means we must take a different approach to ourselves and others.

Methods of Learning

We often do not know that we are ever in need of certain knowledge. In psychology, the learning process is divided into four quadrants.

We don’t know what we don’t know

We know that we don’t know

We work at what we don’t know

We unconsciously work at what we know

What is interesting is the difference between people who claim they know much but know very little. However they may come across as if they are an expert in a certain field.

Dunning Kruger Effect

If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit there are times when we are much more confident in our minds than our abilities will allow.

This principle is the Dunning Kruger Effect.

According to Dunning and Kruger: ‘When people are incompetent in the strategies they adopt to achieve success and satisfaction, they suffer a dual burden: not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it.’ 3 And there’s more bad news. Even when incompetent individuals are taught about the false superiority that accompanies self-enhancement, many of them believe that it applies to others and not to them.

Burns, Mark, and Andy Griffith. The Learning Imperative : Raising performance in organisations by improving learning, Crown House Publishing, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=5514817. Created from liberty on 2021-08-26 22:50:18.

There are countless people businesses and churches who could study their habits and recognize their inability to see how well they are prepared to receive learning opportunities.

Jesus Says We Must Be Like Children

Matthew 18:1 NASB95

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Matthew 18:2 NASB95

And He called a child to Himself and set him before them,

Matthew 18:3 NASB95

and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:4 NASB95

“Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:5 NASB95

“And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;

Matthew 18:6 NASB95

but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Become a child in your ways of learning

As most of our children are returning to their schools, the ones who will succeed in learning are the ones who embrace the opportunity to gain insight into a future hope for their lives.

For the disciples, many argued constantly about who was the best amongst them. Contrary to what most would think, Jesus points out that they must humble themselves like children in order to receive the kingdom of heaven.

How do you humble yourself like a child?

You must first realize that you do not have all the answers figured out. Even if you have survived through life without every questioning the world around you, you are just surviving in this world.

The world around us has so much more opportunity for learning what God has created.

If you were fortunate enough this past week to recognize the full moon with Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky at the same time then you can see a glimpse of the wonders of God.

Becoming Like a Child provides Hopeful Help

Once you admit that you don’t know something, the process of learning may be tedious but there is the hope that the lessons learned will gain the skills necessary for building upon other skills.

I’m sure you can think of your own experiences with the days of toddlers asking a thousand why questions with no end in sight. Once those why questions disappear, some hope may vanish because people believe they have found the answers in unfulfilled places.

Being hopeful in the order of creation has allowed many discoveries through the centuries. Thankfully, people continue to persevere through the act of hope and learning to progress in life.

Be an Active Listener

Active listening is more than just nodding and agreeing with someone who is talking. Someone who has become dull with life is not very active in attempting to learn. We are to embrace learning in a manner that allows us to hear God’s voice and turn to Him.

Matthew 13:15 NASB95

For the heart of this people has become dull, With their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes, Otherwise they would see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I would heal them.’

Learning with intention is part of active listening. How would you apply what you hear to your life? If you have come to the point where you believe you have already learned all that you need to know, you may be missing out on great opportunities!

When we are overconfident in our abilities we allow our ego to maintain the barrier to learning. Jesus proclaims that we must humble ourselves in order to be a servant to others Mark 10:43

Mark 10:43 NASB95

“But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant;

Teachers should remember the perspective of the learner

Often you may be in the role of teaching others. It can be difficult to continue embracing the attitude of a servant. Especially when those that are not welcome to learning are at the beginning of understanding they need to change their minds about their situation.

Jesus also reminds those that are receiving the ones who are children to not cause them to stumble (Matt:18:6).

When we place impossible tasks upon those we teach, we are preparing them to fail. We must visualize the various ways in which that person will succeed and aid them in achieving that result.

In education, there are generally four methods of learning styles.

Visual

Auditory

Kinesthetic

Reading/Writing

A student going through all four of these styles will retain much more than a student who only utilizes one of these styles.

Walk As Fast as The Children

Being patient with those who are learning is rewarding when the process is recognized in the child’s embracing of the lesson.

There is nothing that makes a parent more proud than when their child emulates the lessons taught them.

Parents, teachers, and coaches must also remember the limitations of those who learn to consistently evaluate how to bring all to success in whatever skill is being taught.

You may have experienced many people who have spoken many words with long pronunciations which may have been said with shorter explanations.

Serving those who Change their Mind

Within the church, there must be open reception for those who wish to humble themselves and open their ears and eyes. Many people have heard of the term repentance.

Whatever you have understood about repentance, the word repentance means to change one’s mind, turn back, return to, be regretful, or sorry of.

The body of Christ, the church, must be a body of people who embrace those willing to say they are open to learning more. When we bring up questions about misunderstandings, past church experiences, and never heard of songs or activities we must be willing to listen with the intention of understanding the person’s perspective.

Processing Feedback

One of the most difficult situations people deal with in life is processing feedback. In our culture people are offended easily, have inflated egos about themselves and believe they have all things figured out without any outside input.

I have been in that spot many times. We witness here that these are not new things for people. When the disciples questioned Jesus about greatness, He tells them they must be like children.

A Child Relies Completely Upon the Parent

We must point to God the Father as the parent of us all who we must rely upon. If the church embraces this and continually points to God as the great Creator of all things, the Provider of all sustenance, the Giver of all gifts, and ultimately the One who provides us our salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ, we the church will not be placing millstones upon people.

In your walk, ask that your blindness and deafness is removed (2 Cor. 4:4). Rely on God’s understanding and not your own (Prov. 3:5-6). Give thanks for the good gifts of continually learning more about the one true God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.