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One of the concepts we bandy about at martial arts is The Beginner's Mind. Basically, the idea is to approach something as if you are a white belt and know nothing.
I use it often. At school or while in some other learning environment like a seminar, even if I have learned much of the content before, I clear my mind and pretend I know very little. By doing this, I can listen and absorb things because I don't dismiss anything. Now, I don't completely ignore what I've learned before. I use that previous knowledge to help me fill in a gap. For example, we were discussing how to get a play script sold and the way the teacher was explaining things seemed a bit convoluted to me. That's when I used what I knew from film and TV classes to figure out that while in TV and film you need to find a willing producer, with plays, you need to be the producer. To be a producer in TV and film, you need to go to film school. Not so for plays.
I also use this technique when going out on a date because I'd rather assume I know nothing about someone than that I know everything. I may not remember everything discussed, but I'll know far more than I would otherwise.
It's helpful with a new martial art because while you'll know some aspects due to the body only having a limited amount of ways that it can move, the devil can be in the details. Coming to jodo after karate was difficult before I knew about beginner's mind because I spent so much time in karate trying to square up my stances only to find I need to have an angled stance in jodo. Iaido is more square, but not low, wide, and deep like karate. I actually had to stop doing jodo altogether for awhile because I couldn't leave my learning from karate behind to allow myself to take on something new.
Beginner's mind is something I also use to connect with people who are in a different lifestyle or stage of life than I am. It lets me avoid assuming things about people in my classes like their ability to be successful is really only limited by their will to persevere and has nothing at all to do with their age or current level of writing ability.
Now, I only recently came to this last bit about those younger than me. I have been rather stupid lately in regards to things like the Tide Pod epidemic. I'm sorry for that and I'm going to continue to try and be a better person.
One of the things that has made me realize that was the recent trip to Toronto to pitch our projects. At the home of Orphan Black, the woman we met with had us each say a bit about ourselves. I really enjoyed learning more about my younger classmates as many of them have had such a variety of life experiences. Many have traveled more than I have. Many have lived through things like the loss of a parent. I thankfully have not had that experience though I've lost many people in my life. The point is that age is mostly just a number. I do think there is a balance between assuming someone younger is inferior in any way and in giving them free reign to change national policies, but that's not to say they have nothing valuable to contribute to a discussion. It's more that they don't know what they don't know yet.
I haven't been able to do this yet with music, but maybe someday. Language learning is another area this may help with, but I'm not there with that either.
I feel that The Beginner's Mind fits quite well with entropy as one must basically blow up all they know and rearrange the pieces to either expand what was already known or to capture what one knew little about previously.
R~
Image created using Bitmoji[/caption]One of the concepts we bandy about at martial arts is The Beginner's Mind. Basically, the idea is to approach something as if you are a white belt and know nothing.
I use it often. At school or while in some other learning environment like a seminar, even if I have learned much of the content before, I clear my mind and pretend I know very little. By doing this, I can listen and absorb things because I don't dismiss anything. Now, I don't completely ignore what I've learned before. I use that previous knowledge to help me fill in a gap. For example, we were discussing how to get a play script sold and the way the teacher was explaining things seemed a bit convoluted to me. That's when I used what I knew from film and TV classes to figure out that while in TV and film you need to find a willing producer, with plays, you need to be the producer. To be a producer in TV and film, you need to go to film school. Not so for plays.
I also use this technique when going out on a date because I'd rather assume I know nothing about someone than that I know everything. I may not remember everything discussed, but I'll know far more than I would otherwise.
It's helpful with a new martial art because while you'll know some aspects due to the body only having a limited amount of ways that it can move, the devil can be in the details. Coming to jodo after karate was difficult before I knew about beginner's mind because I spent so much time in karate trying to square up my stances only to find I need to have an angled stance in jodo. Iaido is more square, but not low, wide, and deep like karate. I actually had to stop doing jodo altogether for awhile because I couldn't leave my learning from karate behind to allow myself to take on something new.
Beginner's mind is something I also use to connect with people who are in a different lifestyle or stage of life than I am. It lets me avoid assuming things about people in my classes like their ability to be successful is really only limited by their will to persevere and has nothing at all to do with their age or current level of writing ability.
Now, I only recently came to this last bit about those younger than me. I have been rather stupid lately in regards to things like the Tide Pod epidemic. I'm sorry for that and I'm going to continue to try and be a better person.
One of the things that has made me realize that was the recent trip to Toronto to pitch our projects. At the home of Orphan Black, the woman we met with had us each say a bit about ourselves. I really enjoyed learning more about my younger classmates as many of them have had such a variety of life experiences. Many have traveled more than I have. Many have lived through things like the loss of a parent. I thankfully have not had that experience though I've lost many people in my life. The point is that age is mostly just a number. I do think there is a balance between assuming someone younger is inferior in any way and in giving them free reign to change national policies, but that's not to say they have nothing valuable to contribute to a discussion. It's more that they don't know what they don't know yet.
I haven't been able to do this yet with music, but maybe someday. Language learning is another area this may help with, but I'm not there with that either.
I feel that The Beginner's Mind fits quite well with entropy as one must basically blow up all they know and rearrange the pieces to either expand what was already known or to capture what one knew little about previously.
R~