Beginner's Mind
January - 2011
Dear Friend,
A very Happy New Year wish to each of you! I am feeling very positive about 2011 – excited to see how it will unfold. As I’ve listened to others talk about their goals and resolutions for the coming year, and their fears about not meeting them, I have been reminded of the Buddhist concept of “Beginner’s Mind.” It seems a timely contemplation for this month’s newsletter.
The purpose of this newsletter is to share with you simple and effective tools for personal, spiritual and professional growth. I have used these tools in my own life, so I know their power as well as their challenges. I have also utilized them in more than thirty years of professional work with others as a life coach, educator and psychotherapist. I offer them to you to try, adapt, and practice as methods to nurture your own growth.
Please send this issue to any friends who might be interested. Also, I would welcome your thoughts or comments on this newsletter. Let us begin anew together.
Warmly,
Natalie
P.S. Interested in some support in clarifying your purpose or taking action on your purpose? Contact me for a complimentary coaching call to explore whether coaching could help you reach your goals!
“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning,
but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
~ Maria Robinson
Any new year, birthday, anniversary, or life change event is a time when we are reminded to take stock of where we are and reset our course for the direction we want to go. Goals, resolutions and promises are some of the ways we capture our intentional direction. Some guidelines for renewing our aspirations and setting meaningful goals are outlined in my newsletter for January 2010: Renewal: Re-Energizing Resolutions. That may be useful for you to review. In this issue I focus on the value of a mindset which Zen Buddhists refer to as “Beginner’s Mind.”
Beginner’s Mind
Beginner's mind is a relaxed, open mind that is free of preconceptions, expectations, judgments or prejudices. Beginner's mind is focused on the present moment to explore and truly see whatever is there, without the contamination of past experience or expectations. This mind state is the essence of mindfulness, of creativity, and a necessary condition for new learning and growth.
When we bring beginner’s mind to review our past goals, we look for what is fresh in them today. Without beginners mind, we tend to be constricted by judgments about what didn’t get accomplished, or preconceptions about how to measure success or failure. For instance, for many years I set an annual goal to “lose weight,” which was based on a preconception that by setting that intention, I could stem the slow tide of weight gain I’d been noticing for years. Indeed, in the past, a vague awareness that I had gained weight was enough to shift my eating habits to return to a fairly consistent weight. However, about four years ago I brought a fresh view to this goal, and to my preconception that it was “easy for me” to maintain my weight. Growing older, my metabolism had changed, and I was open to learning both how normal this change is, and how different it is from how I’d experienced my body in the past. I was able to let go of my old beliefs about my relationship to my body, and open to a curiosity about what it would take to lose weight now.
A year later, I reviewed my goal of weight loss and, at first, felt disappointment that nothing had changed. Refreshing my perception, however, I was able to see beyond the measurement of the scale. I reflected on the year past, noting that I had become more consistent in my exercise routine over the year, and indeed had not gained the few pounds I had gained in each of the previous years. With beginners mind I remained curious about discovering the relationship between my actions and my physical fitness, noticing the changes I had made in lifestyle and choosing to maintain the exercise routine.
The new goals I set were exploratory in nature – less focused on outcome and more on understanding my changing body. I began to pay more attention to my eating patterns – more to understand what I was eating than to restrict my intake. Certain changes in my eating choices affected my overall intake of calories and fat – I experimented with several minor adjustments over the months that followed. Since then I have found a balance of activities and mindful eating that has resulted in the weight loss I had hoped for. I have grown in awareness that I need to maintain a beginners mind about this balance in anticipation of this balance shifting again. Bringing the fresh perspective of beginners mind to an old goal that was not moving forward – this made all the difference.
Contemplations on Beginners Mind
In order to let go of our preconceptions and judgments - the fixed ideas we carry around with us and pull out to explain new experiences we encounter – we must first be aware of them as preconceptions. These fixed ideas are often underlying assumptions we have about ourselves or the world that we are not really aware of.
As we become aware of an assumption, we may begin to notice it popping up in all kinds of situations. This is a good thing – it reflects our growing awareness and recognition of our fixed idea. The next time it pops up, we can perhaps see that it is just an idea we carry around with us all the time, and not necessarily related at all to the present situation. Only at this juncture can we choose to put the fixed idea on a shelf – let it go for a time - and turn to the present experience with beginner’s mind, full of curiosity and empty of any urgency to know.
Here are a few ways to conceptualize the Zen idea of beginner’s mind.
Beginner’s Mind is seeing through the eyes of a child, with wonder and curiosity.
Beginner’s Mind is “not knowing.”
Beginner’s Mind is being on a journey with no destination in mind.
Beginner’s Mind has nothing to do with the word “should.”
Beginner’s Mind doesn’t mean negating experience; it means keeping an open mind on how to apply our experience to new circumstances or conditions.
" Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin.
Beginning makes the conditions perfect.”
~ Alan Cohen
~ Action On Purpose Challenge ~
- Identify an area of your life where the practice of beginner’s mind might be useful. You might look for areas where you feel stuck, frustrated, or have a persistent sense of “should.” You might consider one of your recurring New Year’s resolutions.
- Choose one of the contemplations above, or create one of your own, and reflect on it frequently over the next month in order to reinforce the practice of beginner’s mind in your life.
- Reflect on the “fixed beliefs” that you may have about the particular area of your life you just identified. As an assumption or judgment comes to mind, acknowledge it as meerly a thought. Then let it go - suspend your grip on this belief - and invite beginner’s mind.
“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.”
~ Meister Eckhart
~ In the News ~
Next Steps - Want to get going on a plan for the kind of life you want to lead in the future? The 2Young2Retire course can help. A certified facilitator, I offer the course by tele-conference. If you are interested in more information about the course and updates on the time and starting date, go to http://actiononpurpose.com/2008/04/30/boomers--whats-next-for-you.aspx
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At www.EldridgeWorks.com, my virtual professional home, you will find information about coaching and psychotherapy services, as well as more about me. I would love to hear your comments about the website, or the Action on Purpose newsletter. Contact me at Natalie@EldridgeWorks.com.
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