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March 17 - March 30, 2021
This is the game that takes place in the mind of the player, and it is played against such obstacles as lapses in concentration, nervousness, self-doubt and self-condemnation.
The player of the inner game comes to value the art of relaxed concentration above all other skills; he discovers a true basis for self-confidence; and he learns that the secret to winning any game lies in not trying too hard.
the key to better tennis—or better anything—lies in improving the relationship between the conscious teller, Self 1, and the natural capabilities of Self 2.
Getting it together mentally in tennis involves the learning of several internal skills: 1) learning how to get the clearest possible picture of your desired outcomes; 2) learning how to trust Self 2 to perform at its best and learn from both successes and failures; and 3) learning to see “nonjudgmentally”—that is, to see what is happening rather than merely noticing how well or how badly it is happening.
In short, “getting it together” requires slowing the mind. Quieting the mind means less thinking, calculating, judging, worrying, fearing, hoping, trying, regretting, controlling, jittering or distracting.
The first skill to learn is the art of letting go the human inclination to judge ourselves and our performance as either good or bad.
judgments are our personal, ego reactions to the sights, sounds, feelings and thoughts within our experience.
Instead of judging a single event as “another bad backhand,” it starts thinking, “You have a terrible backhand.”
In short, you start to become what you think.
letting go of judgments does not mean ignoring errors. It simply means seeing events as they are and not adding anything to them.
Judgment results in tightness, and tightness interferes with the fluidity required for accurate and quick movement. Relaxation produces smooth strokes and results from accepting your strokes as they are, even if erratic.
Getting the clearest possible image of your desired outcomes is a most useful method for communicating with Self 2,
Letting go of judgments, the art of creating images and “letting it happen” are three of the basic skills involved in the Inner Game.
The less instruction interferes with the process of learning built into your very DNA, the more effective your progress is going to be.
The deeper the groove in the nervous system, the harder it seems to be to break the habit.
there is no need to fight old habits. Start new ones. It is the resisting of an old habit that puts you in that trench.
As the mind is kept in the present, it becomes calm. Focus means keeping the mind now and here.
Most of our suffering takes place when we allow our minds to imagine the future or mull over the past. Nonetheless, few people are ever satisfied with what is before them at the moment.
Self-criticism for not being as close to perfection as one would like, leading to discouragement, compulsively trying too hard and the self-doubt that made you think you had anything to prove in the first place.
The mind’s preoccupation with comparing oneself with others, thus preventing spontaneous action; thoughts of inferiority alternating with superiority, depending on the competition; fear of defeat.
One can never look good enough. What looks good to one person does not look so good to another.
What I really wanted, I realized, was to overcome the nervousness that was preventing me from playing my best and enjoying myself.
the more challenging the obstacle he faces, the greater the opportunity for the surfer to discover and extend his true potential. The potential may have always been within him, but until it is manifested in action, it remains a secret hidden from himself.
Winning is overcoming obstacles to reach a goal, but the value in winning is only as great as the value of the goal reached.
I can’t go up without pushing someone else down. This belief involves us in a needless sense of guilt. You don’t have to become a killer to be a winner; you merely have to realize that killing is not the name of the game.
When I’m concerned only about winning, I’m caring about something that I can’t wholly control.
“If I was feeling frightened playing tennis, I don’t see why I would do it!”
Focus means not dwelling on the past, either on mistakes or glories; it means not being so caught up in the future, either its fears or its dreams, that my full attention is taken from the present.
Stability grows as I learn to accept what I cannot control and take control of what I can.
Apparently, letting go of my grip on life released an energy that paradoxically made it possible for me to run with utter abandon toward life.
