Being New

By freddielaraThoughts

Being New

I have a friend named Tiffany who seems to always win at card games. She can sit
down at a poker or blackjack table and win pretty much all of the time. Is this
beginners luck? Fate? Some astrological or heaven blessed star she is under? Or
is there an energetic quality she brings with her every time she sits down to
play ?

In Buddhist practice we speak of the Zen mind, or an empty rice bowl. The idea,
as I understand it, is that to be teachable we empty our mind (usually through a
meditation practice) and show up without our history’s or preconceived
judgements or ideas or expectation of how things “should” go.

Even the Christian traditions mention showing up “as a little child”. And as we
know children know that they don’t know and are perfectly happy with that
concept. It doesn’t mean they’re less than or insufficient or dumb, it just
means that there is something new to grasp and how amazing is that?

It is over time and our self judgement that we mistakenly begin to fear how we
would look if others thought we might not be sufficient or capable enough.
That’s when we begin to pretend to know or are very busy covering up any
perception of lack in our data collection.

The problem with this MO is that we doubly solidify our ability to be teachable.
Not only do we believe this might may be true but now we are creating
inauthentic selves to portray images and defend against any appearance of lack,
we become defensive and guarded in those moments. And as we’ve spoken about here
the ego has now removed us even further from other people, separated us.

But being new means we empty the bowl (our minds) every night and show up every
morning without expectation, attachment, judgement and preference and allow the
huge inflow of data to flow in.. There’s no need for inauthenticity here. We are
free to ask questions, enjoy the moment, uncaring of what others may think we
humble ourselves to be teachable and by so doing we don’t energetically block
winning, which is our true inheritance. That may not mean you win the game every
time, but even not winning doesn’t slow us down because we know there are an
unlimited pieces of pie available, and everything becomes an opportunity to play
again and learn and be happy for others to win too!

So turn on your beginners luck every morning and allow yourself the ability to
make each moment new and an opportunity to learn. Clear your mind of expectation
and judgment and resentment and all that negative thinking that weighs you down
and keeps you from allowing all that good into your life, and be available to
being new each day. The supply is unlimited…