" In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities,
in the expert's mind there are few"
- Shunryu Suzuki (鈴木 俊隆), a Zen Master-
Hi!
It's a long long time ago since the last time I wrote in here. Many things happened recently and I feel grateful for the good ones ^-~ Today I sneaked on my tables, grabbed my net book and fulfill my desire to write some ( hopefully it'll be useful :D), finally!
So I read a book three weeks ago, and got some inspiration from it. That new baby titled "Presentation Zen" by Garr Reynolds. Check his blog here http://www.presentationzen.com/
Shortly this book discussed on the techniques of doing presentation with influence of Zen concept. I'm not a Buddhist myself, but Zen in my point of view, is like a cultural base, lets say, Japan. I also take the Ikebana, Flower Arrangement course in my college now for about 1,5 years and Zen became the basic of most styles.
The most interesting part of this book is the foreword! Hey how come??!! It's the 1st book which used PPt slides as its design for the foreword section. There`s no such thing like too long and complicated content inside this book, because simplifying is one of the goal. So don't have to worry to spend your weekend with it because it's quite interesting.
It consists of three big parts : Preparation, Design and Delivery, excluding the Introduction and the "Next Step" part.
Ok, for this time, among many attractive sections inside, I wanna make "Childish thinking" as today's discussion. I try to pick up some interesting parts from this book.
Childish, however, has won a bad image or reputation amongst us. But believe it or not, sometimes, we just have to think like a child for freeing ourself.
A child, approaches life with a beginner's mind, which is fresh, enthusiastic and open to the vast possibilities of ideas and solutions before them.
Here's one of favorite parts :
"A child does not know what is not possible and so is open to exploration, discovery, and experimentation. If we use beginners mind approach, we can see things more clearly as they are, unburdened by your fixed view, habits, or what conventional wisdom says it is (or should be). One who possesses a beginner's mind is not burdened by old habits or obsessed about "the way things could have or should have been done. A beginner is open and receptive and is more inclined to say "why not" or "let's give it a shot," rather than "it's never been done" or "that's not common."
When you approach a new challenge as a true beginner, you need not be saddled with fear or failure or of making mistakes. If you approach problems with the "expert's mind," you are often blind to the possibilities. Your experts mind is bound by the past and is not interested in the new and different and un-tried. Your expert's mind will say it can't be done (or shouldn't be done). Your beginner's mind will say, "I wonder if this can be done"
If you approach a task with the beginner's mind, you are not afraid of being wrong. The fear of making a mistake, of risking an error, or of being told you are wrong is constantly with us. And that's a shame. Making mistake is not the same thing as being creative, but if you're not willing to make mistakes, then it is impossible to be truly creative. If your state of mind is coming from a place of fear and risk avoidance, then you will always settle for the safe solutions - the solutions already applied many times before. Sometimes, the "path already taken" is the best solution. But you shouldn't follow the path automatically without first seeing it for what it really is. When you are open to possibilities, you may find that the common way is the best way for your particular case. However, this will be a choice you made not by habit, but by reflection and in the pirit of a fresh beginner with fresh eyes and a new perspective.
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| courtesy of click here |
Children are naturally creative, playful, and experimental. We were the most human when we were young kids. We "worked" on our art, sometimes for hours at a time without a break, because it was in us, though we didn't intellectualize it. As we got older, fears crept in, and doubts, and self-censoring, and over-thinking. The creative spirit is in us now; it's who we are. We just need to look at the kids around us to be reminded of that. And whether you are 28 or 88 today, it's never too late, because the child is still in you."
After finishing above sentences, I can't agree more. Sometimes, the one who made our limitations is ourselves, based on our experiences and so on. If we try to see the world with children eyes, full of passion and enthusiast like we see everything as our first time, maybe the next chapter of our life stories would be ultimately different in many positive ways ^-^ So, wanna try? :)See you on next post! Take care and have a nice day! ^.^
