01: Stop Being an Expert at Your Life
Your life does not go grey overnight.
It fades through moments you stop noticing.
As you get older, you get efficient at living - same routines, same thoughts, same reflexes. It can feel steady, then quietly flat.
Zen calls the antidote shoshin - beginner’s mind. Openness without preloaded conclusions, even when you are experienced. The problem is that experience gets rewarded. The more you “know,” the less you look.
And when you stop looking, you lose more than wonder. You lose choices. You become predictable.
There’s a cognitive trap for this: the Einstellung effect. Your brain repeats the familiar solution because it worked before, even when it is not helping now.
Scroll because you’re stressed. Push through because you’re behind. Repeat.
I felt this at a freezing rugby match in Scotland. I bought a generic stall tea and drank it to stay warm, half-present, mind split between to-dos and childcare. Then I took a sip and it was cold. I could not even tell you what it tasted like when it was warm. It wasn’t about the £1 tea. It was the jolt of realising I’d been there, but not really there.
Later at home, we made a pot of tea and slowed down. Choosing the leaves, choosing where to sit, letting the pot mark a small boundary of time. My shoulders dropped. I exhaled. Nothing dramatic changed - I just came back to my life.
Try this 3-minute routine next time you brew:
Minute 1 - Look
Notice colour, steam, warmth in your hands. Decide: first cup ever.
Minute 2 - Smell
Smell properly. If your mind plans, name it “planning.” If it worries, “worrying.” Return to scent.
Minute 3 - Sip
One sip. No rating. Notice warmth, first flavour, shoulders.
Then ask: Where am I living like an expert today?
Pick one place to soften.
p.s. check out Rose Petal Purify & other teas here.
📷 Erica Moore, The Tea Mind
02: This Zen Concept Will Help You Stop Being a Slave to Old Beliefs
James Clear explains shoshin (beginner’s mind) as the antidote to the way expertise can trap us in inherited habits and “validating” information - so we keep repeating what we learned instead of seeing what’s actually true now. He shares a handful of practical ways to reopen your mind (listen more, stop needing to win, ask “tell me more”), so you can spot the tiny 2% insight you’re currently missing.
Read now: James Clear
03: How to foster ‘shoshin’
Christian Jarrett explains how beginner’s mind protects you from the trap of feeling like an expert - the moment your confidence hardens into closed-mindedness - and he uses vivid examples (like how bold ideas get ridiculed) to show what we lose when we stop being curious. Then he gives practical ways to reopen your mind right now (from testing what you actually understand, to arguing with yourself, to cultivating awe), so you can feel the joy of learning again.
Read now: psyche.co
📷 Illustration by Harriet Lee-Merrion (published in Psyche.co)
Thanks for pausing for tea with me today.
If this helped, I’d love a quick comment, a heart, or a share. It genuinely helps this post reach more people who need a calmer next step.
Erica x
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I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, Erika. Also a timely reminder to practise beginner's mind. Thank you x