Beginner's Mind

When was the last time you tried something new? A new food? A new hobby?

Yes, yes I’m aware that in the last year all of us have started new projects that we never dreamed of taking on, be they homeschooling, sourdough, or roller dancing. And I’m so proud of all of us. Great job! In the midst of all of this, we have taken the great risk that is sucking at something we’ve never tried before.

That, really, is the great danger of new projects. Sourdough isn’t likely to be deadly. Watercolors generally aren’t going to send you to the hospital. (Unless you drink a lot of your brush water.) But our whole bodies have a response mechanism when we ask them to try new things. It’s not fear of physical harm that we’re bracing for, but injury to our ego.

Oh sweet, sweet ego. She wants so badly to see you thrive and succeed. But she’s a little like those entry level job descriptions that require 3-5 years of experience to qualify. Ego wants to see us on top, but doesn’t want to take the steps to get there. Why? Because you might not make it. Because any error or flaw along the way might make the entire venture seem… what? A waste? A joke?

So we bring ourselves up short whether in work or art, convinced that one more step past the edge of the known will plunge us into an abyss of shame. Best to stay here in the comforts of the familiar, if boring, rather than risk finding out you suck.

Because to suck at one small thing gives our ego room to extrapolate that therefore we must, personally, intrinsically, foundationally be fucked up, worthless, idiotic. Look at all those other people who are totally capable of sailing boats, baking croissants, or sculpting clay. They make it look so easy.

They make it look so easy.

But they had a first day, too. Perhaps they were terrified, too. Perhaps they had a whole crew cheering them on, and they were so scared to fall on their face in front of these cool people. Perhaps it looks so easy because they’ve worked really hard. Perhaps it looks so easy because they treat it with ease.

In Buddhism, there is the concept of the “beginner’s mind.” It is a practice that helps us side-step the ego’s demands for references and certifications, stepping into the unknown with the innocence of a child. When you are a true beginner, there is grace available to you because you are just starting out, because there is so much wonder, so much left to learn.

But no matter where you are in your creative life, you can always apply a beginner’s mind. Nothing is the same as it was two seconds ago, last year, last millenia. Look, and look again with wonder. Ask how you and this moment, this experience can meet each other as if for the first time. What would it be like to approach your art with fresh eyes, questioning what you think you know not because you doubt it, but because you recognize that there is so much more to learn.