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Indrajeet's Newsletter

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Issue: 3, Friday, December 22, 2023

Hey Reader! 👋

Welcome to the last newsletter issue for 2023. I hope this email finds you in good spirits. Amidst the crests and troughs in the cycle of life, I sincerely wish you moments of happiness, peace, and well-being.

I’d also like to wish everyone happy holidays to those who celebrate. And a Happy Festivus for the rest of us.

(I wrote this newsletter like freehand writing. So, I’ve rambled at places with very little edits.)

As we go into 2024, I wanted to discuss a habit I’ve been trying to cultivate for quite some time.

When was the last time you picked up a new hobby, started a new TV show, or picked up a book you couldn’t just put down? Can you remember the anticipation and thrill of finding something unknown?

Let's rewind to 2008 when I picked up the guitar for the first time. I got way too amped up by Linkin Park, Green Day, and Metallica’s music and enrolled in a local guitar tuition.

The guitar tutor handed me an acoustic guitar with action higher than Tommy Chong. When I tried to fret a note, I just couldn’t do it. All the ideas of glamor around playing the guitar like my heroes came crumbling down. So yeah, not a surreal experience at all.

And it was around the same time that I got access to unlimited broadband during the night. Our ISP offered unbilled broadband access every day from 2 AM to 8 AM. For a newbie, who’d just found a new passion, it was a godsend. I’d wake up at 4 AM, download new music, watch Justin Sandercoe’s guitar tutorials till 8 AM, and let myself immerse in them for the rest of the day.

I discovered Guthrie Govan, Dream Theater, Megadeth, and countless other bands and artists through Ultimateguitar.com’s forum (Using Indrajeet Slash as the username for the forum is among the top 10 most embarrassing things I’ve done in my life).

But over the years, the madness has waned. I still love music but the childlike wonder isn’t there. What it’s been replaced with is the corrosion of the comfort zone. I listen to the same music and play the typical blues licks.

And I miss the madness. I miss the feeling I got when I first listened to Creed’s My Sacrifice or learned to play Metallica’s Enter Sandman on an acoustic.

It’s the same feeling that pushes folks to write fan fiction, make painstaking efforts to cover a song, or go down the Wikipedia rabbit hole of their favorite actors from their newly discovered TV show.

That feeling is often called the beginner’s mind, aka Shoshin if you’re looking for a fancy term.

When we are new at something, we are eager and open to understanding it better. We are like a sponge, absorbing everything we can find about the topic.

The beginner’s mind is a mind obsessed. It has a certain degree of FOMO and full cringe tendencies with zero care (Sometimes to the degree where you openly tell everyone that you love Creed).

But as we grow in our interest, we develop blinders. We become cynics and straitjacket our tastes and choices. We shun or look down upon certain aspects. For instance, I started to wonder why should I learn Green Day when I could play something technically complex by Metallica.

The flip side to this was that I started procrastinating and developed unhealthy self-doubt around my playing. Because downpicking in time like James Hetfield is no joke. Many times it worsened to the degree that guitar playing felt worthless, and I didn’t touch the instrument for months.

The way around this cynicism, I realized, is to recultivate the beginner’s mind, the non-judgemental wonder of exploring my love for music and guitar playing. I could simply have a hobby, allow myself to be mediocre at it, and grow slowly. There’s no competition.

And this is what I’d like to urge for you too, if you’re feeling stuck.

You’re not starting from scratch. Have you had those moments where you were watching a movie or listening to a song for the umpteenth time, and it resonated with you differently? It got you goosebumps or maybe made your eyes well up with tears like never before.

These are the glimpses of the dormant beginner’s mind. Instead of letting it visit us on a whim, we can cultivate it mindfully by doing a set of activities:

1. Pay full attention to our current experience. If we're listening to a song, let's listen to it multiple times, focusing on the lyrics and different instruments each time. We can also watch cover videos to understand what’s happening under the hood.
2. Be non-judgemental to the thoughts that come to us about the craft. For instance, as a writer, one of the best advice I’ve been given is not to edit when writing. It’s key to learn to silence our inner critic when we are expressing ourselves.
3. Let's not gatekeep ourselves from exploring what others think is dated. It’s almost 2024, and listening to Creed and Nickelback shouldn’t be something to be ashamed of. Let's be cringe but free.

On this journey of rediscovering the beginner’s mind, you’ll find yourself to be confused quite often, but that’s how we grow, don’t we?

This was quite a long read, and I’m grateful to you for sticking around!

As we embrace the beginner's mind, I'm excited to hear your thoughts. Reply and share your experiences. Let's embark on this journey together!

I’m rooting for you to have a fantastic 2024!

Farewell for now,
Indrajeet