Content area
Full Text
-The Editors
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's, there are few."
-Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
The Zen Buddhist concept of beginner's mind· (shoshin in Japanese) describes a state of being truly new to something- coming to an experience with no preconceptions, and as a result being full of curiosity and open to all possibilities. Operating from a beginner's mind as an adult is more difficult than it may seem because we tend to try and make sense of any new situation by applying the accumulated total of our knowledge and experience to it. As Chris Barton said on page 29, our brains like to use shortcuts and make analogies: "We usually start with what we know rather than starting from zero."
While it's often useful and helpful to apply our hard-won knowledge to new situations, this can also lead to stagnation in our thinking-we fall back on old patterns and ways of doing things, and perhaps overlook opportunities for innovation. Cultivating a...