"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.”
Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi
Have you ever noticed how kids assimilate new technologies and take on board changes so easily and with so much gusto? Kids love new things and have an appetite for novelty. In NLP we have an expression we use to describe a powerful way of looking at the world. It’s called ‘seeing the world through the wide eyed curiosity of a child’. It’s soooo true! Children are filled with an insatiable curiosity and passion for learning and trying new things. They have open hearts. They love to play and make a game out of change. And there's a powerful clue!
In the philosophy of Zen Buddhism, there is a technique called ‘Beginner’s Mind’. This is a technique that allows you to open your mind and see things anew – to return to that wide eyed curiosity state. The idea of beginner’s mind is to temporarily set aside all your opinions, ideas, cherished beliefs and mindsets and explore the world with a fresh awareness, with an open heart and an open mind.
Through a state of “I don’t know” – that is, by actively doing ‘not- knowing’ – you are able to see and try things that you would otherwise have missed. You open yourself to new possibilities. You open yourself to change more easily.
The message from this Zen wisdom is to use beginner’s mind in times of change. Look at changes that are thrust upon you with a fresh mind, rather than through pre-conceived prejudices. This will support you in finding the opportunities hidden in the challenges of change. Come at the opportunity of change by holding curiosity and creativity in your head brain, joy and passion for the newness of it in your heart brain, and a calm and courageous acceptance of it in your gut brain. This will bring the wisdom of the child to the changes you are experiencing. When you approach change in a way that is 'young at heart', when you embrace it through gutsy courage, when you see it as a creative opportunity and when you experience it through ANS Balance, then you enable all of your intuitive wisdom and bring a fresh taste of life to how you deal with change.
How life enhancing will it have been when you embrace change through the eyes of a lifelong child now? What could you bring beginner's mind to in your life right now, today?
Thinking Tools – Beginner’s Mind
See the world through the wide eyed curiosity of a child.
And you can read more about how to powerfully embrace change and use the incredible power, intelligence and intuition of your heart and gut brains in my book mBraining:
life enhancing smiles
Great post Grant. Balanced breathing is a great way to access that state.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of seeing through the eyes of a child, I Just watched John Stuart's interview with Malala (the girl shot by the Taliban).
Amazing to hear someone so young speak from such a balanced place. Great example of gutsy courage http://www.dose.ca/2013/10/11/malala-yousafzais-jon-stewart-interview-will-make-you-rethink-how-you-see-world-video
Hey Dave, wow! what a powerful interview and a great exemplar of compassion and courage! Yes, talk about truth and wisdom from the brains of children, Malala shows us how to do it. Thanks for sharing that.
DeleteThanks Grant, This is a great post. I am not sure, in a world that demands certainty, how does beginners mind fit? I think the challenge is - to keep childlike curiosity while pursuing expert job. For instance, as a result of having beginners mind to tackle a serious problem we may have many possible outcomes because that is what it is. But the current world order would ask which the right answer is with full certainty. I guess my question is twofold: Is it possible to make decision with beginners mind, and if so what needs to change, I’d say current world order that put so much emphasis on certainty.
ReplyDeleteI know I’m missing something here because my inability to fully comprehend the situation.
Hey CS, thanks for sharing your thoughts and feedback. I always appreciate comments! And yes, you're right, it appears that the world has a strong desire for certainty. It's likely due to humans being evolved patterning systems. Patterning systems function by holding patterns constant. If a patterning system didn't work to hold patterns constant, then it would NOT be a patterning system, it would be a chaotic system. So our brains (head, heart and gut) like fixed patterns, they like certainty. This is at the heart of the process of Cognitive Dissonance (which I've previously blogged about) which occurs when we have mismatching cognitions or experience ie. patterns that don't match, or something that doesn't fit the existing pattern, so we do anything to remove the uncertainty. And this is why 'not knowing' is so powerful. If you can install a pattern in your life of being comfortable with changing patterns, with a meta-pattern in which you allow for flexible and changing patterns, for a certain level of uncertainty, of chaos, then you open yourself to being able to experience newness, to creativity, to movement and exploration. The inbuilt evolved preference for certainty that people give in to, and that society then instantiates in laws, mechanisms and social structures, actually stifles our lives and creativity, whilst at the same time bringing certain and important benefits. So it's about finding a middle path, a balanced way of working with certainty and uncertainty, of dancing between knowing and 'not knowing'. Knowledge is good, it's great, 'not knowing' as a process in the quest for new knowing is a useful and powerful tool and attitude. Hope that helps answer your great question in a loose and flexible way.
DeleteThanks so much Grant for your reflection. The best thing about writing you is that you do read and answer. Now I am coming to terms with that there's not so much obsession in understanding everything rather doing. Meditation, balancing ANS, loving, compassion behavior will set us in a path that can answer everything, and then the need of understanding everything seizes to the degree we evolve. You rightly mentioned in my previous comment that we are 'human becoming', loved that. Have a nice week!
DeleteHey CS, thanks for connecting and the dialogue. I appreciate your comments and your appreciation. :-)
DeleteYes, it truly is about doing and becoming, and doing that doing with balance, with compassion, creativity and courage, and with allowing the space of 'not knowing' and curiosity to give room for the emergence of wisdom that comes from aligning your intuition (head, heart, gut) through ANS balance and flow. And the leverage for evolving our neural networks is in the congruent doing, behaviour, thought and feelings, all aligned, changes the brains that 'do'. Being comes out of congruent doing.
Thanks again for reading and commenting.
smiles, Grant
It's as if you read my three minds!
ReplyDelete"Come at the opportunity of change by holding curiosity and creativity in your head brain, joy and passion for the newness of it in your heart brain, and a calm and courageous acceptance of it in your gut brain."
This is exactly what I needed this morning! I tend to approach change negatively, but I'm going to try "actively doing 'not-knowing'" for a change.
It's as if you read my three minds!
ReplyDelete"Come at the opportunity of change by holding curiosity and creativity in your head brain, joy and passion for the newness of it in your heart brain, and a calm and courageous acceptance of it in your gut brain."
This is exactly what I needed this morning! I tend to approach change negatively, but I'm going to try "actively doing 'not-knowing'" for a change.
Heya Jean, thanks for your great comment. Yes, relaxing our need for certainty, for the old, for the existing (as we currently perceive it through our filters and blinders) and looking at the world 'as if for the first time' helps us approach change positively. Sometimes its just as simple as just giving this way of experiencing a go, and a whole new world opens up at the head, heart and gut level.
DeleteHey Grant!
ReplyDeleteI especially loved your quote summarizing the difference between a beginner's mind and an expert's mind. I have always talked about the child's mind as being represented as a welcome mat---it is open to all. Sue
Heya Sue! Thanks for your great comment. Yes, children are open to new experiences, they don't have to fit things into boxes, indeed, they usually rip boxes apart :-)
DeleteGood job Grant but how can we operate from the ' beginners mind' in a world thats too hasty with results.
ReplyDeleteHi Clara, great question. Beginner's mind doesn't mean you don't make decisions. It's more that you look at things with fresh eyes, seeing it not through the old filters of familiarity. It's also about being open to new information. Of course, if the situation demands a fast response from existing patterns, then do that. If there's a fire, you don't want to stand there and start to get all curious about it and want to play with it, in that case, follow standard operating procedure and hit the emergency button and evacuate the building immediately :-)
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