Beginner's Mind

Learning is constant

A professor in university asked everyone in the class to share something helpful they never want to forget in life. When it came to me, I said, "I always want to be a student of life. I never want to feel like I've arrived". While my views might have slightly changed overtime, I still hold the belief of being a perpetual student of life - to keep learning and growing with every experience.

To be humble is a great virtue. Feeling that one has more to learn in life as it goes by & that one's talents can be refined even after reaching a certain level in any field; this thought process is a blessing. The greatest minds in any profession are always learning. The truly genius creators always feel that they can do better.

Beginner's mind allows us to be a student and learn. Every day And to improve. Each time one picks up a paint brush to paint or a pen to write, it's an opportunity to learn something new about ourselves. To dig deep into yourself to find something to paint or write about is a legitimate process is a legitimate process of creativity - a process that allows you to learn something about yourself. Something new. Something you didn't already know.

Beginner's mind would mean approaching the canvas, your emotions and life in general with a healthy curiosity rather than predicting what you already know. That's also a concept in Zen Buddhism called 'shoshin'. Approaching a field of study or life with openness, eagerness and without a level of expertise you might have reached frees your mind from your own expectations.

Sometimes, while painting, the painter Bob Ross would make a mistake. He called the mistakes 'happy little accidents'. Instead of correcting them, he would somehow incorporate them into the painting, without stressing about the outcome and the result would be great.

Approaching anything this way is a good way to reduce stress and inculcate acceptance; of our shortcomings, of what might go wrong and of imperfections in the present moment. It even roots us so deeply in the process of creation without worrying about the outcome. It's a great mindfulness too (just observing our emotions come and go).

Practice curiosity in your life and get to know yourself and others. It will help you observe rather than be fixed in your opinions. It will help you respond rather than react and you will find yourself smiling at the 'happy little accidents', rather than worrying about them.