On keeping a beginner's mind

I think I’m now officially an Aikido has-been. I took a break when Ami was born four-and-a-half years ago. With a three-year-old and a newborn, disappearing for two hours to train three times a week didn’t seem like the thing to do.

(I kind of agree with what Hannah Gadsby says in her latest Netflix special, Douglas, about men with kids who disappear to play golf every weekend. Spoiler alert, it’s a four-letter word and it’s not all that complimentary.)

Then six months later I noticed that for the first time in over a decade my wrists didn’t hurt. And I kind of liked it. That was when I knew I was pretty much done with Aikido training.

However, Aikido is still part of me. And many of the lessons I learned on the mat are with me still.

One big one was to train with a beginner’s mind. Not to step on the mat thinking that you already knew the technique, even if you’d done it a thousand or ten thousand times before, but to see what else you could learn this time around.

As an expert, I think this is also useful for your own stuff. Try to come back to a beginner’s mind in your own field of expertise. You’ll learn more, and you’ll be better able to empathise with those you teach, many of whom will actually be beginners in your stuff.