There’s a place where your innovation and creativity soar, where you see things anew, a place where children reside, that makes them eager, open, and curious. This is the place of champions, artists, geniuses, and spiritual seekers. There are many ways to get there. When traveling, you can’t help but reside there. Everything is new, interesting, unexpected, where you naturally set aside preconceived notions and ideas. Wise CEOs seek to have their staff swim in these waters, to go past what has been created before, into the realm of imagination. It is a practice and a way of being in the world. This place is called Beginner’s Mind.
Making the known unknown
From a sociological perspective, Beginner’s Mind is defined as non-judgement, unbiased, welcoming, and positive expectation. It is focused presence, curiosity, and wonder; often felt when doing something for the first time. Think of a child. Think of their constant desire to learn and understand the world with delight. What would it require for you to return to a place of innocence and awe? How could you look at things each day, in a new way, through the eyes of curiosity and wonder?
Reclaiming our genius
My husband shared a stunning statistic with me recently on this topic. He explained in a study he read that approximately 98 percent of 5 year olds test at a creative genius level. When these same children become adults, stunningly, only two percent score at a creative genius level. Every five years of a child’s life, the percentage of creative genius drops significantly.
Traveling in theory
Have you ever experienced Beginner’s Mind? If so, when? What did it feel like? My goal of late is to be there as often as possible. I want to feel that way, even when I’m not out of the country. When I’m out of the country, it’s automatic. It seems people end up there occasionally, often by accident. What about inviting this as a regular destination? How would that impact your life? How would that transform the work you do in the world? How would that help you spark joy?
Catching the unicorn
I often experience Beginner’s Mind in the early hours of the morning, just before waking up. I am increasing the time I spend there to see what ideas surface, watch solutions appear, and observe impressions eagerly in my mind, as they magically unfold. Many people achieve this state through meditation. Continuously allowing thoughts to float by into silence and stillness is a wonderful way to view the world through innocent eyes. I frequently visit Beginner’s Mind in the shower. There is something about immersion in water that allows me to free flow creativity and joyful expansion. And when exploring nature, especially rigorous hikes and strenuous sports, I can’t be anywhere else.
Steve Jobs used to send his staff out for a day off on a regular basis. He asked them to do something in nature or explore a new place, he told them to stay away from their current project. When Albert Einstein was done creating a formula, he would go into another room for several hours and listen to classical music. Andy Warhol, perhaps best known for his image of a Campbell’s Soup can, invites us to see something mundane in a completely new light, as if for the first time. It seems that the masters were returning to Beginner’s Mind, the place of innovation, creativity and wonder. If it worked for them, surely it can work for us.
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