Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Beginner's mind

What better day than New Year's Day to remember the importance of "beginner's mind."

In the beginners mind there are many possibilities, but in the experts there are few.

- Shunryu Suzuki

If we consider ourselves to be experts, well then, we already know. There is no spaciousness within for change, for transformation.

While New Year's Day is wonderfully symbolic of a fresh start, let us remember that we can start our year over on any day of any season. And we can remember to have "beginners mind" at any moment throughout each day. Right now! That's all we need to remember. Right now!

Here's something else Shunryu Suzuki said:
Strictly speaking, there are no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.
That's very encouraging. Very consoling. We are all mixtures - have always been mixtures and will most certainly continue to be mixtures throughout this life. So let us not become discouraged about not reaching enlightenment yet. But we can make enlightened choices whenever we wish.

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