“Rabbit’s clever,” said Pooh thoughtfully.
“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit’s clever.”
“And he has Brain.”
“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit has Brain.”
There was a long silence.
“I suppose,” said Pooh, “that that’s why he never understands anything.” ~a. a. milne, winnie-the-pooh
For a while now I had thought I knew enough to be a teacher. But now I realize the wealth is in the learning. I am ready to have beginner’s mind again – to be curious and vitally alive and awake in my studies. I want to know more and I want to be taught. I am open and ready to receive more than I currently comprehend.
What am I studing? I am ready to learn more about Love. I want to know how big Love can get? I want to experience the length, depth and breadth of what Love is.
When I hold myself apart as a teacher I am less open. I am held back from feeling, I am singular and alone. There is a kind of sealing off when I think I know a subject so well.
Oh but if I am the student… how much more could I feel? How much richer the experience when I open myself up freely and willingly ready to expand past known limits!
Yes – I want to learn how big Love can get. And I want to know how to give Love as a gift and how to receive it the same way. I want to witness Love in all situations and I want to charm and cox Love out of places one does not ordinarily expect to find Love. I want to know how many different kinds of Love there are and to know thier names and identify how each one of them feels. I want to see Love and feel Love and taste Love and create Love and hear, live and be Love.
Yes – how wonderful to be a student again, to have my eyes and heart wide open searching in earnest for the truth of Love in all things.
Now to find my teachers…
In a subject you know very well, can you see the merits of beginner’s mind?
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Hi Lani,
I resonate with these words. Two years ago I let go of my, then, identity. I was a helper, rescuer, a hero. First as a teacher then, for 25 years as a psychologist helping heal people, children and adults, who were suffering silently with trauma. I had to let go of that identity because I finally realized, at age 60, that my role was actually hiding The impact of growing up in a family overwhelmed with loss, trauma, betrayal, abandonment, illness.. The real perpetrator, however, was the denial we all lived in. That denial finally fell apart for me two years ago. As part of the letting go of my the only identity I had ever known and become open to my true self, began to free my creative self, which I had never done. I picked up a brush and watercolor, and after two years I almost comfortable referring to myself as an artist. I am a beginner in life as I learn who Is my true self and how to live this way, out of the suffocating shell of denial, one day at a time. I have so much to learn in terms of art skills because I never have. But, God constantly reminds me to stay in the present moment and find joy.
Thank you for your honesty in your blog; it is why I felt I could say all this to you. I look forward to meeting you in your studio next weekend.