Beginner's Mind: An Invitation to Wonder

"Release opinions, free yourself from views. Be open to mystery." — Jack Kornfield

What if today, we let go?

Let go of what we think we know, let go of the familiar walls we've built around our thoughts. What if, just for a moment, we met life as if we were seeing it for the very first time?

Waking Up Wrapped in Yesterday

Each morning, most of us wake up wrapped in yesterday. We reach for the same thoughts, the same patterns, the same old stories we've been telling ourselves for years. It's comforting in a way — the known always feels safer than the vast, uncharted unknown.

Yet the beauty of the beginner's mind is that it offers us another way.

Each day, each minute even, is an invitation to start again. To choose a new way of seeing. A fresh page to be written, a new story longing to be lived.

We carry so many options in our minds, so many narratives passed down by time, habit, and fear. Often, these are simply echoes of the past, not truths about today. When we loosen our grip on them, when we step into the moment with curiosity instead of certainty, something shifts. We make space for wonder. We allow life to surprise us.

The Gentle Power of 'Don't Know'

Seung Sahn, a Korean Zen master, spoke of the deep value of the "don't know mind." When asked, "What will happen tomorrow?" he would smile and answer, "I don't know."

There is such freedom in those three simple words.

We are often so afraid of the unknown that we cling to the familiar, even when it no longer serves us. We hold on to old pains, outdated beliefs, and worn-out versions of ourselves simply because the ego fears change. Yet life, in its endless generosity, keeps offering us new beginnings — if only we dare to open our hands and receive them.

Seeing with Clear Eyes Again

Picture a child, seeing the world with clear, unclouded eyes. Every leaf, every bird, every sound is a marvel. No assumptions, no jadedness — only wonder. Over time, we gather filters and patterns that dim this brilliance. Yet underneath it all, that capacity for wonder still lives within us, quietly waiting.

And not just with life itself, but with each other too.

A Library, Not a Single Book

How often do we assume we already know our friends, our partners, even ourselves? We stop listening, stop seeing, convinced we have already read the entire book when, in truth, we've only skimmed a chapter. Every person is not a single book, but a whole library — alive, evolving, full of stories yet to be written.

Beginner's mind invites us back into relationship. With life. With others. With ourselves.

Not clinging to the old chapters. Not predicting the ending. Just being there, present, curious for what is unfolding.

Softening into the Mystery

So today, maybe we can soften. Maybe we can meet life with open palms and open eyes. Maybe we can whisper to ourselves, “I don’t know… and that’s beautiful.”

A new page awaits. A new story, one we've never read before. Let's begin.