A mind closed is like an ineffective parachute. The mind should be open to function, like a parachute.

A closed mind – or its worse complement, a hard, emotionless heart – is the greatest obstacle to personal growth. In fact, it is one of the most detrimental obstruction to your personal success. It makes you static instead of dynamic. No change is taking place, no transformation is possible.

The worst thing that can happen to you when you have a closed mind and heart is that you become fanatical to your present assumptions and beliefs. And what's even worse is if your assumptions and beliefs are negative. These negative monsters attack on 2 fronts – internal and external - and will do great harm when they affect both fronts.

Internally, when the conversations or thoughts you have in your mind are generally negative, not supportive and cynical, you can face just as many problems as you would if, externally, the conversations and words you use with your friends and relations are generally negative, cynical or gossipy.

This is true because what is your internal reality reflects upon your external reality, and what is your external reality reflects upon your internal reality. Although this may seem to be a hopeless catch-22 type of vicious circle, this problem is easy to solve.

By simply affecting one side, you automatically affect the other. By consciously deciding to change either your inner or outer aspect, you set in motion changes that affect the other aspect as well.

The best way forward is to begin to consider the possibility of better situations in your inner aspect. Ask yourself – had there been positive outcomes in your life that came about after or as a result of a particularly negative situation? Have you ever considered the possibility that a negative situation in your past had happened for a reason – even if it was a reason that you can now deliberately conjure? Think about this – what are the possible positive outcomes that you can derive from your present circumstances – no matter how dull or dire they are right now?

Infuse extra caution into your internal conversations – ask yourself questions that challenge your present assumptions, beliefs and currently held conclusions.

Next tackle your outer aspect by being extra conscious of the conversations you are having and the words you are using to others. You don’t have to suddenly change into an "Everything is good and positive" kind of person – in fact, that would be counter-productive.

What you may want to add into your existing conversations with others is the element of possibility – you can still talk about negative things, situations or circumstances, but conclude the conversations with the possibility of things being better, either because of your direct actions or the developments you are seeing around you.

Whenever you catch yourself saying a conclusive statement either to yourself or to others, always keep in mind a question that challenges its validity – what if something even better is possible? What if a brighter possibility is already out there, waiting to be discovered – by me?