I’ve heard it often enough in the Buddhist magazines I subscribe to: approach things with a beginner’s mind. A usual comparison is to that of a child. Intellectually, the concept made sense but the application of it was another scenario entirely. This became apparent to me on my Riviera Maya, Mexico vacation.
Mexican Resort Vacation Experiences
Sitting poolside under a cabana in near perfect 80 degree weather, I turned to find three resort employees directly behind me: a man, a woman, and an iguana. The man supported the iguana on his arm as though it had grown there as naturally as a strand of hair. My eyes were drawn to the multicolored reptile making me forget what I had started to get up off my chaise lounge for.
“Senorita, you want to get your picture?” the camera-ready lady asked me. I hesitated, my tendency to avoid reptiles in most locales strongly upon me. “Come on, my friend, get your picture.”
I hopped off the raised platform and walked barefoot across the concrete surrounding the pool. The woman directed me to a spot in the grass where shrubbery filled the background space behind me.
Appearances And Reality
The man instructed me to lay both palms flat in the air. He pushed them apart so six to eight inches separated each hand. Then in a swinging motion he arched the iguana from one side of his body onto the tops of my open palms. The iguana was heavier than I expected and I involuntarily exhaled a small smile as I felt the skin of this creature against my own. He was smooth yet textured, the way a wall is when you paint it with a heavy weaved roller. The iguana’s scaly presentation was just that, an outward appearance that lacked tangible reality.
“Put your face close together,” the man said. “Like you kiss him.”
The thought of my only vacation kiss being shared with a reptile made me giggle. A few snapshots and two iguana position changes later (one with him laying the length of my arm and one shoulder shot) and it was over. When I picked out my photos that evening at the Photo Shop, I recognized something I hadn’t seen in myself for many years: joy. Not happiness, but pure childlike joy.
The Picture Of Childlike Joy
There in my hands was a green colored lizard with pointy yellow spikes rising out of his head like a mountain range while my eyes radiated joy. This was beginner’s mind. This was the innocence of a child. This was what I failed to see within myself (or hadn’t made room or time or permitted) and was blocked from seeing in small children.
I admit that I don’t get children- their games, their language, their mindset. And that lack of understanding, coupled with their general lack of proximity to me, made it easy to dismiss any need to develop that skill. But in opening myself to something new I had a brief glimmer of how a child sees things for the first time. Maybe opening myself up to Kimber’s view of the world will allow me to expand this newly recognized notion of joy in my life. And maybe her childlike views will help me be better in touch with my beginner’s mind.
Being Kimber's Aunt 