Being a Beginner

Tomorrow is my next class in the Mindfulness-Based Stress reduction course. After that, there will just be one more and I am already sad thinking about that. However, I’m excited that my favorite teacher at Stanford is offering a Science of Mindfulness class this Fall which starts in just a few weeks and I will definitely be taking it. (I’m actually taking two other online classes starting in September on top of a crazy work schedule and two little boys starting school. I am trying not to think about what all this will do to my schedule.)

Last week’s class topic was on Beginner’s Mind (links to pdf). A lot of it is about making assumptions. We make a record amount of assumptions all day long, every day. And the more we interact with a person, with a job, with any particular thing, the more assumptions we make about it.

I’ve been with Jake for a long time and I know him so well that I often think I know what he’s thinking, how he will react and what he might be feeling. And, while there are many times I might be right, there are quite a few occasions where I am wrong. He does the same thing to me. He might remember how I reacted to some situation a few years ago and assume I will behave the same way again. But people change. Even when it’s not a fundamental shift (which also happens) people’s day to day moods will change how they might look at a particular situation. And how they respond. I often remind Jake to just ask me anyway. Even if he thinks he knows what I will say. And I try to remember the same thing. To approach it with an open mind. To really watch and listen and be there. And not to assume I already know how it’s going to go down.

This even applies to art supplies. I got stuck in my art journaling a lot in the beginning of my journey cause I thought I had to color my background. I thought that’s how it was done. I assumed there was a right way. I assumed I had to gesso my page. I assumed I had to use my paints with water. I do none of those things now. One day, I decided to not assume and I tried different things and I liked how they turned out. Sometimes “not knowing” helps. Not thinking that it has to be done a certain way.

I always remember how Wendy Kopp said she started Teach For America because she didn’t know it couldn’t be done. She didn’t realize what a big undertaking it was. She didn’t realize the education system in America is a huge undertaking. She just did it. If she knew all there was to come, all it would take, she might never have done it. And I, for one, am so glad she had no idea what she was getting into.

A few months ago, when things were really really rough at work, I realized yet another way assumptions were hurting me. In areas where I am not great, I find that I always assume others know so much more than I do. I put these other people on a pedestal and myself way down in a hole, so I feel smaller than I am. This is true whether it’s coding, drawing, scrapping, whatever. I just assume others know more, better, bigger. This problem is even more pronounced when I am around people who have self-confidence or who don’t like to ever show weakness. They like to come off like they know more than they do. When I am around people like that, I feel even worse. Look how much they know, and how little I do. I am nothing. They are amazing. I will never be anything. Blah blah. You get the picture.

But when I was facing real problems, I looked at the way these people helped me solve problems and I realized that they didn’t know more than I did. When it came down to digging in and figuring things out, their knowledge and ability to fix was no greater than mine. They just felt confident they would eventually fix it. I realized all the assumptions I was making were wrong.

I’ve realized this in other areas of my life, too. As I learn more I realize I didn’t actually know that much less than others. And, just as importantly, they didn’t know that much more than I do. So I didn’t need to put myself in a hole and I didn’t have to put them on a pedestal.

This might sound weird to some of you, but it was definitely a revelation for me. I was very surprised when I realized it.

And just to clarify, of course there are areas where others know more than I do but, in this case, I was creating a much bigger chasm between my place and others’ cause of my self-image and my assumptions. People hold themselves to different standards. What I might consider not-good-enough might be acceptable for someone else and even above-average for yet someone else. So I’ve learned not to assume anything. I’ve learned to approach situations with optimism and trust. Trust in my ability to figure things out.

I know this is a bit of a non sequitur from the Beginner’s Mind concept but it just made me think more and more about assumptions. And how they damage me. How they stop me from starting. How they stop me from keeping at it. How they stop me from trusting myself. How they stop me from believing I can.

So I want to work on being aware of these. Paying attention to when I don’t take a step cause I assume that I know how it will all not work out. Paying attention to when I stop along the way cause I assume it will never get better. Paying attention to when I assume I know how someone else will react. Paying attention to when I assume others are so much more capable than I am. Paying attention to when I beat myself up because I assume I messed up irrevocably.

Maybe if I pay attention more, I can do a better job of reminding myself that there’s so much I don’t know. That I don’t even know all that I don’t know. And I should never assume. Especially when I use it as an excuse to tear myself down and not be brave.

Because I want to be brave.

I want to remember that I *am* brave.

And every new day is a new day and I want to approach each day with a Beginner’s Mind. Assume nothing. Welcome this new day. Take it in fresh and know that it can be anything I want it to be.

A brand new beginning.