How To Approach Traveling With A Beginner’s Mind
One way to truly experience your surroundings is to have a beginner’s mind. Start by imagining yourself as a child. Seeing everything for the first time with fresh eyes. Do your best to leave it all behind when you enter a new town or place. This will allow you to open yourself up and embrace everything and everyone you’re going to come in contact with. The world is a much grander place to experience with a beginner’s mind.
In this article will explore what it means to have a beginner’s mind, what it means to approach Traveling With A Beginner’s Mind, mindset. How it could potentially enrich your experience of a new location, and make for deeper more meaningful travel for you.
What is a Beginner’s Mind?
Beginner’s mind is a term used in Zen Buddhism to refer to a mental state of openness, curiosity, and lack of preconceptions. According to Zen Buddhist teachings, having a beginner’s mind is important in many aspects of life, whether it’s the beginning of a new relationship, the beginning of the day, or the beginning of a new project. When we approach something with a beginner’s mind, we are more open to learning and discovering new things.
A beginner’s mind is one that has not yet experienced everything there is to know about the world, or place or things. A beginner’s mind does not live in the past but looks to the future with eagerness and many belive is the key to all success in this life. It is a mind that has not yet forgotten its former life, for it is a sort of life which will always be with it. It is a mind which has not yet tried anything really new, for anything really new has not yet been tried. Don’t be stuck in the past. When you begin to travel, try to avoid thinking too much about the old times and places and don’t let those old memories, impact you current and future plans, don’t forget that former life but don’t let it be a chain hold you back.
Why Take a Beginner’s Approach to Travel?
Efficiency. Your mission is to experience as much as you can in a short amount of time, the location that you’re at. Being a beginner comes with its advantages. When you try to go to the most touristy tourist places, you waste time and money that could have been saved if you had seen them during off-peak seasons. Just think, you would have been able to be there in September, instead of during the peak season. Traveling With A Beginner’s Mind allows you to fully appreciate your surroundings. When you are there during the off-peak season, you experience things on a much deeper level. You feel the culture, the vibe, and the flavor. Go on the night-time tour of Paris, Italy, or another beautiful city you want to explore. Stroll down the streets, and have a great conversation with someone with no set expectations or preconceived notions. This way your open everything and anything might happen, providing gateway to deeper and meaningful connection where you are.
How to Travel with a Beginner’s Mind
It’s quite common for travel bloggers to get so involved in planning an adventure that they get distracted from enjoying the present moment (* I will admit that on occasion I am guilty of this as well). Whether it’s talking to the person working the cash register at the airport, or fretting over what kind of package to buy, they’re too preoccupied with what they should be doing. It’s imperative to keep in mind that taking pictures and video is a great way to truly enjoy the present moment. Personally, I love that people use Instagram to capture the very smallest of moments, further I also encourage you to photograph as much as possible, but sometimes put it aside those devices and forget the photos. Taking pictures and video are great ways to document the trip, but the true memories are formed when you step outside your comfort zone, when you stop hiding behind the camera, our technology and begin to live life it. This is Traveling With A Beginner’s Mind.
How to Build on a Beginner’s Approach to Travel
Once you have this fresh outlook on travel, you will find it much easier to stay safe and enjoy all your adventures. It all begins with eliminating clutter from your mind and focusing on being open-minded and curious about what lies ahead. With a beginner’s mind, hurdles that may have kept you back are now lower and you could potentially go places and see things you’d never otherwise have the chance, or desire to see. Experiment with what you think is the most enjoyable thing to do in the situation, much like a child would experiment. If you like singing, perhaps go find yourself in a quiet forest where you can just sit and sing a tune. Or you may prefer doing yoga while listening to the sounds of nature. If you like dancing, look for a good club or cultural event that you can attend, just set aside those worries, fear of being judged, the what-ifs, and enjoy being in the moment, enjoy living. Traveling With A Beginner’s Mind mind allows you to get out of your comfort zone and embrace new experiences.
Conclusion
One of the best parts of travelling to new destinations is exploring new adventures.One tool you can use to build new adventures is a beginner parent. It’s important to let your guard down and approach new environments with an open mind. In order to do that, it’s often helpful to see the world with a beginner’s mind. It can be exhausting and difficult perhaps even scary at first, but it will get easier and it can be a great way to discover new ways to enjoy locations, experiences, people, and travel.
What are your thoughts?
- Have you heard about the beginner’s mind before?
- Will you try traveling with this open-minded approach?
- Would be your hesitation for trying, what would the benefit be trying it?
As always, thank you for taking the time to read my article and hope you found it interesting the least.
Much love,
