“In the mind of the beginner there are many possibilities, in the mind of the expert, there are few.”Suzuki, Shunryu. (1970). Zen mind, beginner’s mind. New York: Weatherhill.
Beginner’s mind is a posture or state of mind in which the communicator approaches a moment of communication with as little conditioning as possible.
Exercise
Open you mind and bring the awareness to breathing. As you sit and listen to the other, anchor your awareness in the sensation of your own breath. The words and affect of the person you are listening to begin to gently shift into the background of your awareness while the sensation of your breath emerges in the foreground. You are listening deeply to this person while you are maintaining the presence of your own breath, your own thoughts and feelings. This listening is now less about “my self” and more listening to “the other.” It is now a contextual awareness of all the complexity of sight, sound, feeling and awareness emerging into your consciousness. Like a child that first walks into a carnival, you are open to all that is present for your consciousness without discernment that “this” is better than “that.”
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