A Beginner's Mind
"In the beginners mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few." - Shunryu Suzuki
I put my kids in the bath tub each night. We have a basket of toys for them: sea animals, letters of the alphabet, buckets, shovels, all kinds of things. They pick up each toy one by one. First, my one-year-old will shake it to see if it makes any noise. Then he hits it against something else to see how that sounds. Then he drops it to see how that is. Then he sticks it on the edge of the tub. And on and on it goes. He goes through this process in very much the same way with all the toys every night. He has no assumptions going into bath time, he takes each toy through several experiments before moving onto the next one.
My kids teach me what a true beginner's mind is. They have no expectation of what something will be like, they try it every which way. And because of that, they stumble onto new combinations, sounds, or possibilities all the time. But even more important, they are not focused on the outcome. Rather, they focus on the play itself and proceed as if it is the very first time. We all remember some of our firsts right? The first time we drove a car. The first pet we ever had. The first time we fell in love. The first time we traveled to a new country. There is something so special about these moments because we are truly present for them, in the moment, with no expectations from previous experiences of what it will be like. We are simply open and curious.
When we can approach life with a beginner's mind, we are able to go further and deeper than ever before. We may solve a problem we have been working at for years. We may stumble across something new. The possibilities are endless. But it all starts with staying open and keeping our minds fresh. It is easy to get bogged down by our routines, to-do lists, and taking care of everyone else. See if in your daily routines, you can change it up a little bit. One place you can start to cultivate a beginner’s mind is with an exercise I learned from Mel Robbins (High 5 Habit). Look for a heart shaped object as you go about your day. You will see something new even in places you have looked before. Challenge yourself and look for a heart today, remain open to new possibility!
