Beginner’s Mind

The start of the New Year always brings a surge of energy into our life, with hope and possibilities for the future.

To exercise more, read more books, take-up a new hobby, the list is endless. However we all reach a point of frustration and like falling dominoes, all our goals come crashing down.

Since I’m not a big fan of self-help books, I won’t follow the same path of trying to shove 10 step principles down your throat, which promise to change your life.

All I have to offer is a simple antidote to help you overcome the negative emotions of routine and repetition. This remedy is called “Beginner’s Mind” The concept of Beginners Mind is taken from Ancient China 初心 (chūxīn) which translates as original intention, In a nutshell the meaning is Never forget why you started, and you can accomplish your mission.

The Japanese took this concept to the mainstream with the popular book, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.

The famous Roshi Shunryū Suzuki in the early 70’s transplanted Zen to America, which grew into a flourishing counter culture which influenced many prominent celebrities, most notably Steve Jobs who went on to become one of the most influential businessman in the 21st Century. Jobs credited Zen as having the deepest influence on Apple’s products.

As children we had this uncanny ability to find joy in doing simple things for hours. Have you ever stopped and watched a child playing alone with toys, totally oblivious to what’s happening around them. That ability to focus and do the same thing for hours is essential in the child’s ability for learning. Nature is instilling valuable skills within the child through this repetition; Transforming a dependant, incapable child into an independent, self-sufficient adult.

But as adults we lose this ability due to experience and the “Mr Know it all” mindset. We become hardened creatures unable to take in new information and ideas about the world. This attitude stifles our greatest gift which is creativity, and turns us into dull, pessimistic individuals with a negative disposition towards change.

The Beginners mind, which children possess is essential for learning new things. In essence Kids have what Zen refers to as an empty mind. The concept of emptiness is something rather uncouth to modern society, with its glorification of conspicuous consumption and instant gratification. The idea is actually very simple, if you have a cup filled with water to the brim, the only way to add more water is to empty it.

The cup can be used as a metaphor for people, and the water as our experiences in life. The purpose of Meditation is to empty that cup, because our mind is like a High-Res super camera which takes snapshots of everything that happens in life. The reason we are unable to find joy in the things we do is because our minds are filled with images of how things should be, so we have already arrived at conclusions before starting.

In life as we grow older, we experience many things. These experiences are important in creating a world view for ourself. This world view essentially influences how we interact with the world. However these views are not always correct. If your life is riddled with bad experiences then you will have a negative view of things around you. “Beginners Mind” challenges you to quieten the noise of those previous experiences, whether positive or negative and to look at everything with a blank slate. This opens up our interaction with things to new possibilities, not limited by imaginary roadblocks.

Learning a new language is a challenging endeavour, which requires a lot of energy and commitment. As an English Teacher my job is to simply steer students into the right direction and hope they have the stamina to climb up the steep mountain of proficiency.

If I have to think about the students who make great progress in reaching proficiency and those who struggle along the way, I can immediately put them into 2 categories.

First Category: These are the students who do not hold on to dispositions of language concepts from their Native language.

They accept that a new language is a new way of thinking. They don’t dwell on why certain grammatical structures are a certain way, they embrace them and move on.

They see contradictory ideas within language as interesting and are able to accept ambiguity.

Second Category: These students are unable to completely throw themselves into the ocean of self discovery. Because they hold notions of how languages are supposed to be, their minds are closed and are unable to open up to new information which is essential for their progress.

They end up quitting due to the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness, they see no way out the dark hole of difficulty. They have lost the shinning light of “Beginners Mind”

New Experiences are supposed to crack open your mind and unlock perspectives which were previously invisible. That’s why it requires an attitude of surrender into the unknown, because the cave you are afraid to enter is the one which holds all the treasures you seek.

Life is filled with infinite possibilities of adventure, people to meet and things to learn. But because we carry predispositions in life we are unable to connect to the life vivifying force of “Beginners Mind”. “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”

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