An easy and wonderful way to mix it up in your life is to listen to alternate viewpoints. Whether you ultimately agree with them or not, it is incredibly valuable to get out of the ruts of thinking that you normally pursue and try understanding another person's way of thinking. This has two huge benefits:
1. Increasing your capacity for empathy. Having compassion for the lives and circumstances of others is one of the core tenets of almost all forms of religion and spirituality for good reason. When you can see something from someone else's point of view, you are much more likely to treat them -- and yourself! -- with kindness. Believing that the person who cut me off on the freeway did it on purpose can ruin my day, but believing that they are late for a job interview or anxious about their sick child puts me in a much more relaxed and loving frame of mind.
2. Opening your own horizons. Knowing nothing about why many Muslim women wear concealing clothing made it easy for me to condemn their culture as oppressive and misogynistic. Reading the thoughts of the women themselves on their dress (some indeed do feel oppressed; others say it makes them feel safer and less objectified) expanded my idea of what it means to be a Muslim woman -- and an American one.
A fantastic and hilarious podcast that provides wonderful opportunity for expansion of worldview is Dan Savage's Savage Lovecast. Dan Savage is a nationally syndicated sex and love advice columnist who does a weekly podcast with call-ins from readers and listeners. His column and show differ from most others in that Dan is extremely tolerant of alternate lifestyles and sexualities. Not only will you learn many, many new viewpoints on love and sex, but you will also get tons of practical advice on everything from having "the talk" with your teenage daughter to how to approach your significant other about something new you'd like to try.
I particularly appreciate Dan's focus on communication, respect, and safety between partners, and his no-nonsense attitude when confronted with people who are clearly selfish or unwilling to give. A word of warning: if you are offended by occasional cursing and frank discussion of sexual matters; proceed with caution. If, however, you are interested in expanding your horizons with respect to relationships, mix it up and give the Savage Lovecast a listen today!
(As usual, I have no affiliation with The Stranger or Dan Savage, but I've been a listener since episode one! Photo is from Wikipedia.)
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