A Scout mindset is an open one, an attitude of courageous curiosity and endless exploration. A scout mindset can best be understood as the antithesis of a closed, fixed, defensive mindset. A scout mindset is one of inquiry, focused on learning and growing, anticipating (scouting!) change and adapting thereto, flexible, limber, and supple.
We are all attached to our belief systems and our world views and it can be emotionally difficult to have them challenged. It is all too easy to hunker down in our positional foxholes, assume a defensive stance and resist change. Yet change is inevitable and most of our resistance is futile and motivated more by habit and our comfort zones than by principle or reason.
A few decades back, in a delightful moment of liberating truth, I realized I did not have to have an opinion on everything. I could simply say: “I don’t know. I’m not an expert in that field and I don’t have the time to become one. So, I’m not taking a position. Oh, I may lean this way or that but I’m going to pass on being greatly emotionally invested.” Tremendous peace of mind flowed from that decision. Hey, it may not sound like much but it was an interesting self-insight to realize how much of my young male ego was invested in having opinions and how unaware I was of it!
Though I didn’t know the terminology, I was in the process of adopting a scout mindset and it has served me well for it facilitates keeping an open mind and avoid locking ourselves into concrete mental fortifications.
Closing Quotes:
“Be curious, not judgmental.” – Walt Whitman, 1819-1892
“Mindset is your rudder on the boat of your life.” – Shan White
“It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.” – Thomas Paine, 1737-1809
“Let your curiosity lead you down a road that is less traveled.” – Awakening the Genius Within
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier