“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s, there are few.” Sunryu Suzuki
A beginner’s mind is sparked with curiosity, awe and wonder. Imagine
for a moment the inquisitiveness of a child. The openness to each experience and
the brand newness of the moment.
Each day, moment and breath is brand new. While some are smoothe, others may be rocky. There are darker moments and those that shine with brilliance. And there are moments that fall almost easily forgotten in between. While we have each lived our own lives in the same body, with the same mind and heart, heard with the same ears, touched with the same hands and likely seen the world with the same set of eyes, our bodies are always changing, our senses continually refining and our perspectives have the potential to kaleidoscopically evolve. It’s like Sharon Salzberg wrote, “Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope, a slight change and all patterns alter.”
Last week, as I was reflecting on the attitudinal foundation
of a beginner’s mind, a chilly rain fell in our beach town and over my dusty jeep. Before pulling out of the driveway and while behind the driver’s
wheel, I turned on the wind shield wipers and watched the layer of wet dust move side to side,
clarifying my view preparing for the road ahead.
As we drive, ride, walk around, sit down and look out at the
world, we can continually wipe the dust from our eyes with the intention to see
more clearly. We can also bring this metaphor into seeing our inner worlds with clarity, inviting an openness of heart and mind, an intention to hear
with fresh ears and see with clear eyes. We might also notice that some days
our perspective may feel murkier than others and invite the attitude of
gratitude for our intention and the moments of crystal clarity that illuminate
the path within and without. Because, as meditation teaches us: each moment, every
breath, the new day are full of opportunities and possibilities to begin
again.
“We can always begin again.” Sharon Salzberg
Practicing mindfulness and cultivating an intimate relationship withe the foundational attitudes is like putting together the pieces of a puzzle and noticing how the attitudes interconnect and interplay with one another. To begin again, it helps to strengthen our “letting go” muscle, our ability to let the experience be as it is. This doesn’t mean we condone harm or return to situations or relationships that are harmful. I remember an important relationship in my life that ended painfully years ago. The hurt and sense of betrayal ran deep and the healing from that experience has been a slow road paved with compassion and patience. For me, beginning again, in this case is to begin again in cultivating trust, trust in my own judgement regarding who I enter relationship with and trust in the other person I have opened to, as well as the relationship shared.
Beginning again is living again with the openness to new experiences
remembering time and again, we have never been here before. Each relationship --- whether it be with a person, our own being, a project, place, or whatever it may be --- forges
a new path opening us to new facets within and without.
Beginning again honors our stories, our wisdom and intuition
with the remembering that each new inner and outer facet has a
spark of newness and gifts for us to experience, delight in, learn from and and sometimes fall down and get back up again. Holding back from new experiences because of old
hurt doesn’t stop the hurt, it stunts possibilities unimagined and life we are
new to.
As I've mentioned before, in meditation, we are always looking at the relationship,
how we are relating to the moment, our experience, another person, place,
project and so on.
In order to practice the attitude of a beginner’s mind and call
forth the courage to begin again, it is important to feel safe. Safe enough to
let go of preconceived notions about how an experience may unfold – whether we
are in a familiar or unfamiliar situation. Safety is key when it come to
opening the heart and allowing ourselves to feel vulnerable.
Remembering that everything offered here is brought forth in
the spirit of invitation, below you will find reflections from class this week, an inquiry:
Is there any place – a location, relationship, project, practice or other – where you feel stuck or in a rut where the attitude of a beginner’s mind could rekindle the aliveness within you in relationship to this location, person, your own being, a project, practice or other?
As we move towards the closing for this week’s attitude of a
beginner’s mind, the reminder to hold our experience lightly and feel the
gentle embrace of the two wings of mindfulness: the nonjudgemental awareness
and compassion. Heart qualities soften the edges of this minute to minute
existence. Whatever is moving within you, feeling states are fleeting. The
letting go and beginning again isn’t letting go of our experience in life or tossing
our stories out the window, it is letting our stories be – not defining us or
owning us – letting them rest as part of an ongoing story that we are each
living. Individually and collectively. One moment and one day at a time.
To begin again is let go of the way things were – ten years ago, ten minutes or ten breaths ago – and open to the way things are moment to moving moment, breath to rising and falling breath. One wave at a time. Remembering, the waves will come and go and we aren’t trying to control or stop the waves. Through mindful practice, we are learning to surf the waves and notice that the water is different every day. Big stuff, small stuff, in between almost unnoticeable stuff, none of these stops. Life keeps moving.
Mindfulness teaches us how to keep
moving with acceptance, honing in on the reality of the moment, beyond what is happening
around us and below the surface of our lives, connecting
with our vulnerable and shared humanity and the deep underlying peace and stillness that is always here.
A Gaelic Blessing:
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