I woke up this morning wondering what I was going to write about.
My mind stayed blank.
Hmmm…. Maybe there’s nothing I want to explore. Maybe I’ve written all there is to write.
Whether I believed it or not, in the telling myself I didn’t have anything to write, I was limiting my capacity to step into the unknown and simply trust in the process and allow…
Hmmm…. I wonder where else in my life I do that? Turn up and assume I’ve got it covered. I know it all and in my all-knowingness don’t test my belief I know it all?
I like to think I am a student of life. That as often as possible, I will enter any situation with the Zen concept of Shoshin or “Beginner’s Mind”.
“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” ∼ Shunryu Suzuki ∼
And then, I forget. I walk in thinking I know it all, or have all the answers, or there’s nothing else to learn only to discover the limits of my understanding, the narrowness of my view, the shallowness of my thinking.
And I begin again. To return to Shoshin. To enter Beginner’s mind space.
I begin again to unhook my thinking from what I think I know, or tell myself I can’t do, to accept there is more to what I don’t know about myself, someone else, or a given situation, than I think.
I begin again to explore ‘the different’ in what I can do, or as the instructor at an amazing course I took last night said, “If you catch yourself saying, ‘that will never work’, go prove yourself wrong.”
I woke up this morning and told myself I had nothing to write about.
I decided to prove myself wrong.
How cool is that!
Wonderful reminder
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! ❤
LikeLike
I am a “know it all”. The next time someone is trying to teach me something, I will try and remember this post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sometimes, my fear of not knowing, of looking ‘stupid’ gets in my way of remembering I don’t know it all! 🙂
LikeLike
I recently heard a comedian say that every family has a family Know-It-All and if you don’t know who that person is, odds are it’s probably you. I find myself in this position often and have to remind myself that I do not know it all and cannot possibly know it all. Daily, I tell myself to wait for the information to come, then soak it in allowing me to learn something new. It is difficult to let yourself be the student, the learner each and every day but, I try. Good for you today you learned something. Now it’s my turn.
LikeLiked by 1 person
OH my! I’ve never heard that — but what a great insight. I love your attitude. Thank you. ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
It can feel good to prove ourselves wrong
LikeLiked by 2 people
That it can Joanne! ❤
LikeLike