Everyone wants to be an expert,
No one wants to be a beginner.
That’s the trouble with people these days.
Combined with a good bit of procrastination,
The yes - no - yes - no - yes - no approach most have,
It’s a wonder anyone learns or gets better at anything, ya know?
There’s comes a point where you have to stop thinking about something and just do it.
Becoming or learning anything always takes doing something different.
If you don’t do anything different, nothing happens.
But if you can just have some gumption and just get going,
Just start,
Just do some simple things on a regular basis …
You can better at ANYTHING very quickly.
If you’re anxious for example,
Ignoring that anxiety and being calmer is a skill you can practice.
It takes time though <—- that’s important to realise.
It takes you starting,
It takes you ignoring those anxious thoughts, not adding to them with more anxiety.
It takes a mindful, aware approach.
And it takes you continuing.
Then you start to build some momentum in the direction of your choice.
I have a few people come and learn the Bright Path Ishayas' Ascension meditation,
And they want to be experts, like, last week.
“Why do I still have these thoughts and these habits?” - they cry.
“Well”, I cry back -
“You practice rarely - and if you do practice, you don’t keep it simple or do what I say”.
“And you’re looking to be an expert in less time that it takes me to change my underwear …?”
They always look confused at that one.
So, rules of overcoming or learning anything:
Just do it. Jump in. You can spend your life thinking about it. Just start.
Do it every day,
Get comfortable not being an expert, get comfy being a beginner and asking questions,
Do it over a long period of time. You won’t master it in your first week, or even year. Just show up anyway.
Then something magic happens:
You’ll get to a point where you have what you wanted when you started, and more -
Say freedom from anxiety,
And yet you will know the game so well, you will know your head so well, you know there is no finish line.
That whatever skill or knowledge or learning or ability just gets better and better.
That all experts are only experts because they love learning, they love becoming more.
It stops being about getting away from, again say, anxiety,
And becomes about running towards greater and greater peace of mind, joy and freedom.
That is infinite.
As in greater and greater.
How wonderful is that?
In Ascension meditation we call the state of the expert beginner as being innocent.
You have innocence right when you begin (because you are a beginner)
You forget it when you think you know something,
Then - if you’re smart - you grab it back for yourself again, pronto
And you get well on the road to being a beginner with an expert's smile).
If you want to know more about innocence?
About ending anxiety?
Here's a free guide which also means I'll send you emails like this (though you can unsubscribe easily at any time):
https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/sane-fb
Go well!
Arjuna
PS.
The two things Buddha said you can do wrong on this path of getting to know yourself completely through meditation/mindfulness?
Not starting.
And not finishing.
Wise man that B.