Do you have a beginners mind?

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

– Mahatma Gandhi

Even the most peaceful childhoods are filled with Firsts. First time taking classes. First time having teachers. First friendships. A first kiss. The first time holding a job and the first time in a relationship.

Some of us then find a job, a person, a home that we stick with. At some point, we may even feel as if we've “arrived”. We rest for a while. Enjoy what's familiar. Get comfy. Over time, our patterns may deepn. Our hearts may leap in the face of change as if protecting what we have.

Thing is — sameness is the opposite of what you'll find in the natural world. Inside, our hearts too, want us to expand, to do new things, embrace Firsts. If we clamp down on what's natural, our hearts seek ways to open (despite our minds hold us in place).

A secret about me that few know

I'll tell you a secret. I'm not spontaneous. A good listener maybe. Dependable, sure. But friends also know that I take a long time to make decisions. They'd also never throw me a surprise birthday party as they know I may not enjoy it.

I do love my life, yet I'm measured in what I do. I enjoy planning, anticipation and then receiving what I had envisioned. Had I not experienced Catalysts in life, I might have been someone who could stay in one place forever!

Firsts are difficult for me. They stretch me, igniting threads of tension. Each and every time — I resist (at first). Yet I am intimately aware of Nature and the riches of growth and with all things, adopting a Beginners Mind.

To kick-off 2014, I transformed my comfy life to a life where I'm facing Firsts every day. I've surrendered to the Beginners Mind, and what I've found is that life is meeting needs that I never knew I had.

Mother nature just doing her thing

After moving in December, I faced a litany of Firsts. The first time sleeping in a new bedroom, the first time using a new grocery store. New textures under my feet and new sounds in the night.

On day one in my new home, I heard a knock and a couple stood in my entrance. Marilyn and Ernie had brought their new neighbour beef barley soup, tea biscuits and a small lemon loaf — they remembered what moving was like. I gratefully ate their soup for two days.

On day two, it was snowing hard. While looking out my window in the morning, I spotted a man clearing out my neighbour's driveway and I ran out to meet him. Now, when the weather turns on my street, John's there plowing my drive before breakfast.

On day five, the ice storm hit and my power, internet and phone failed for more than 24 hours. On my new street, ice twinkled like jagged jewels. I took photos of the ice which was at once beautiful and devastating (see below!). I wasn't alone. I met Bert and Bonnie, Richard and Colin and we checked-in, compared notes.

Ernie was there too, with his daughter. When I took this photo, he was bent over his own front lawn, cleaning up a huge tree that had fallen to pieces there. “I guess this is Mother Nature doing her thing...” he said.

Do you have a Beginners Mind?

First are all around me these days, but you know what? They always were. Allowing in Firsts, like allowing the awakening of your intuition, is the flow of life. It feeds you and lifts you to places you've never known and delivers gifts you never knew you needed.

Are you considering a First this year? Have you been putting it off? If your heart is fluttering, perhaps this is where the magic lies. Your next, natural step can be nurtured to life by trust and action. Welcome all that comes with an open heart... and a Beginners Mind.

Meaning of life articles for your heart. Created with love.

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