A mind as vast as a valley. Mine was full.

When I used to trade with leveraged investment product, many people told me not to buy it. Although the value of the product dropped since I bought it, I still refused to cut my losses and sell. I stuck to my own ideas at that moment. I felt hope would appear as long as I held on to it. Throughout the process, I continuously ignored the warnings and the advice of those around me. Finally the platform forced me to sell the product. I paid a financial price for my stubbornness.

I saw a line in the Tao Te Ching that I did not live up to at the time: “A mind as vast and open as a valley,” which describes someone who can accept many different voices. Being able to accept everyone’s advice and not reject different perspectives means that once my mind is open, I realize that most of the time there isn’t just one road. When I run into problems, I can then use different methods, or combine different ways of thinking, to solve them.

Although this sounds like very good advice, it is really not easy for me to follow. Giving up what I believed before, like selling an unsuitable product as I mentioned at the beginning, makes me feel like I was a fool before. And if I accept someone else’s guidance, doesn’t that mean that person is better than me? Something deep inside, like my sense of dignity, strongly resists this. There are also many stories where following other people’s advice didn’t turn out to be a good solution, which gave me an excuse to refuse other people’s advice.

Although I lost a lot of money before and have not won it back from the market, I have come to realize how important other people’s opinions are. Whether it’s my own ideas or someone else’s opinions, both should be viewed objectively. I can’t follow everyone’s advice completely, since it is my own life to live, but I also can’t be so stubborn that I only insist on my own ideas, because that would unconsciously narrow my path more and more. Next time someone gives me advice, I hope I can honestly examine the reasons behind how I act, and objectively consider both the benefits of that advice and the risks I haven’t noticed myself. I think that is what truly opening my mind means.