fact melts away the fear…
Insight- A "Beginner's Mind"
by meditative - March 15th, 2010.Filed under: Insights For Mindfulness Training.
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities. In the expert’s mind there are few. ~Shunryu Suzuki
The richness of present moment experience is the richness of life itself. Too often we let our thinking, beliefs, and our conditioning about what we know prevent us from seeing things the way they really are. We tend to take the ordinary for granite and fail to grasp the extraordinariness of the ordinary. To seize the richness of the present moment, we need to cultivate what is called the beginner’s mind. Beginner’s mind is a fundamental aspect of mindfulness meditation that is difficult to grasp but is integrally important to practice. Beginner’s mind means looking at things as if you are seeing them for the first time. An open, beginner’s mind allows us to be receptive to new possibilities and prevents us from being thwarted by our own expertise which often thinks it knows more than it does.
As a experiment, you might try to cultivate your own beginner’s mind in your daily life. The next time you see somebody who is familiar to you- ask yourself if you are seeing this person with fresh eyes as he/she really is?- or if you are only seeing the reflection of your own thoughts about this person? You can try this same experiment with your spouse, children, or co-workers. Try it with problems when they arise. Stay fresh and clear with each experience, and witness how differently the texture of the moment can be like never before.
Think of beginner’s mind as a clear lens onto your experience… it sees, it reflects the reality of each moment as it truly is… not as an illusion or projection manifested by our thinking, perceiving mind. No two continuous moments are the same. More often than not, we miss the subtleties of change both within and outside ourselves out of fear and attachment.