Jack: So far in Mindfulness Daily, you've been developing and deepening the skills of focus and resilience and doing this with a kind and clear attention. In this session, we're going to explore what one Zen master calls “beginner's mind.”

Beginner's mind is the mind that sees with fresh eyes, with interest and openness, the many possibilities. Whether we're at work, in a classroom or with family, with beginner's mind, we can see things in a fresh way with clear eyes and renewed presence. Neuroscientists at the University of Toronto have demonstrated that mindfulness training leads to more accurate observation and clarity of perception. With mindfulness, we're seeing things as they are now, rather than bringing a backlog of history, filters, and interpretations.

Beginner's mind opens us to natural joy as well. I remember when my daughter was a year and a half old, she would Marvel at a pebble or a leaf. Being with her, I too would enter the beginner's mind and hold her up and introduce her to the world, "This is an oak tree. That's a yellow bumblebee." What's beautiful is I see this beginner's quality growing in mindfulness practitioners as well. Their eyes become bright and open, they live with a more interested spirit.

As you continue your mindfulness practice, invite a beginner's mind. You will notice how it can arise naturally in the fresh sensing of the next breath, in hearing the exact sounds around you, in fully feeling sensations in the body, in clearly noticing the play of feelings and thoughts. Be curious and interested. Without judgment or fear, notice how the stories and body sensations keep going and how you can step out of them and discover a fresh response to problems. This is one of the gifts of mindfulness. It opens a doorway to creative solutions. As we step out of habitual thought, our intuitive knowing becomes available. Like Steve Jobs or Marie Curie or Henry Ford, we can see outside the box, we respond in new ways.

Whether you are a teacher, or a parent, a manager, healer, or student, you can pause, step back and see the people and place you're in with a fresh and more compassionate vision. Mindfulness invites you to be fully alive just where you are, to live with a beginner's mind.

Again, take a seat with dignity and graciousness. Notice the state of your body and mind with a kind attention. Be at ease as best you can and fill your body with the half-smile of kindness. Begin by taking a few deep relaxing breaths, and then bring a relaxed and focused attention to the breath or body anchor as you have. Invite the mind to calm and the body to relax, and continue for a time with this calming attention on the breath or body anchor. When attention wanders, gently bring the puppy back.

This breath, this moment.
Now, bring a beginner's mind to the sensations of breathing or body anchor. What does this mysterious life process feel like right now? Notice the breath as if you were seeing a newborn breathe for the first time.

Now, continue bringing a freshness to the core practice of mindfulness. When the attention is pulled from the breath by a strong sensation or sound or feeling, name it gently and notice its texture, how each is an ever-changing flow of many tiny experiences, always new. When an experience lessens in intensity, or you are at ease with it, return attention to the breath. Be awake and interested and sense the river of life with kindness and freshness.

Bring the same beginner's mind as you notice the amazing production of thoughts, picture thoughts and word thoughts. When they rise up from the background level and pull your attention from the breath, name them gently and notice with appreciation and freshness how ephemeral and transparent they are if you don't get caught in their stories. Breath and thought appear and vanish while you rest in their midst with beginner's mind. Feel everything that arises afresh, the mysterious appearance of life moment by moment.

As best you can, keep the spirit of beginner's mind of interest and wonder alive as you continue to practice. When you finish this formal practice, notice how you can cany this openness and freshness into your daily life as you shower or eat, listen to music, or watch the setting sun.

© Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield
Reprinted by permission.