It feels nice to be good at something. I like being competent. I think everyone – human or animal – enjoys being competent.
In order to become competent, we have to be beginners. Now, I consider the state of Beginner Mind to be a mixed – and necessary! – blessing, though not always fun. I recognize that Beginner Mind may be worse for me than other folks. Your mileage may vary.
“I will be so good at this!” my inner child exclaims diving in headfirst without knowledge or skills. In my mind, the imagined results of my first attempt are always amazing. This leads to hallucinated conversations with astonished onlookers who glimpse my spectacular work as I demur: “This basket? Oh yes, I made it myself. It’s not terribly difficult.”
Meanwhile, faced with handfuls of moist wicker strips, my body keeps sending messages to my brain:
- Put the what in the where with which hand?
- I don’t have 3 hands.
- That is not physically possible.
- My life has been good up to now without basket weaving.
- WTAH?
I can handle a tricky dog or sticky dough. I can draw reasonably well, make good pickles, and speak conversational Pig. Turns out none of those skills helped in Basket Weaving 101. The gap between my imagination and reality is, um, awkward.
Unsure how to be right, my inner 4 year old declared, “This is stupid and I hate it.” Another version of me told the 4 year old to shut up: “Hush, I want to figure this out!” The wiser part of me just gently patted me on the head and murmured sagely, “Beginner mind is where we learn the most. Just keep trying.”
I thought about some vacuuming that might need doing.
To be clear: I was the one who chose this particular activity as this year’s Beginner Mind activity for trainers at a workshop. We do one every year.
Why deliberately seek out Beginner Mind activities? First, it is powerfully humbling to remember that new skills and understanding have to be built from the basics. I am reminded to extend to others the patient grace that basketry instructor Colleen Mosenthin of Weave & Wobble gave all 20 would-be basketeers.
Second, I remember that animals are also in Beginner Mind, without benefit of written instructions or even the same language. Like us, some animals deal better with Beginner Mind than others. Some will walk away or shut down if they don’t know how to be right, if they are not quickly successful. I think this often goes unrecognized. It is on us to teach them in thin slices, building success on success.
Basket weaving was a wonderful Beginner Mind activity. Why? First, the simplicity of the task – weave in, weave out – made it easy to feel successful rather than overwhelmed. The repetitive nature of the task meant the brain and body could work out how to get good results. Excellent instruction combined with an attractive, tangible outcome to provide a surprisingly strong reward for the effort of learning something new.
I’m keeping my basket where I will see it often, a lovely reminder the challenge of Beginner Mind and my responsibility to help those learning from me to have real results, real success in that moment.
What was the last Beginner Mind activity you did? How did it go?
