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December 3 - December 10, 2022
‘neither mastery nor satisfaction can be found in the playing of any game without giving some attention to the relatively neglected skills of the inner game. 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. In short, it is played to overcome all habits of mind which inhibit excellence in performance.’
“It’s not that I don’t know what to do, it’s that I don’t do what I know!”
Childlikeness” has to be restored. .
During such experiences, the mind does not act like a separate entity telling you what you should do or criticizing how you do it. It is quiet; you are “together,” and the action flows as free as a river.
In short, “getting it together” requires slowing the mind. Quieting the mind means less thinking,
Thus, judgments are our personal, ego reactions to the sights, sounds, feelings and thoughts within our experience.
Judgment results in tightness, and tightness interferes with the fluidity required for accurate and quick movement.
The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the process of change; yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is.
a process by which actions flow spontaneously and sensibly without an ego-mind on the scene chasing positives
we don’t need the motivation of a reformer to change our “bad” habits. We may simply need to be more aware.
When the child loses his balance and falls, the mother doesn’t condemn it for being clumsy. She doesn’t even feel bad about it; she simply notices the event and perhaps gives a word or gesture of encouragement. Consequently, a child’s progress in learning to walk is never hindered by the idea that he is uncoordinated.
Let the flower grow.
Getting the clearest possible image of your desired outcomes is a most useful method for communicating with Self 2,
I often suggest that as an experiment they adopt the style that seems most unlike the one they have previously adopted.
fundamentally, experience precedes technical knowledge.
that too many verbal instructions, given either from outside or inside, interfere with one’s shotmaking ability.
that a valid instruction derived from experience can help me if it guides me to my own experiential discovery
They broke with dogma, not because the dogma was wrong, but because they found something that worked better for them.
Self 1 easily gets enamored of formulas
When one learns how to change a habit, it is a relatively simple matter to learn which ones to change. Once you learn how to learn, you have only to discover what is worth learning.
It is not helpful to condemn our present behavior patterns—in this case our present imperfect strokes—as “bad”; it is helpful to see what function these habits are serving,
A child doesn’t dig his way out of his old grooves; he simply starts new ones!
there is still a recurring impulse to think about how I did it, make a formula out of it and thus to bring it into Self 1’s domain where it can feel in control.
Relaxed concentration is the supreme art because no art can be achieved without it,
To the extent that the mind is preoccupied with the seams, it tends not to interfere with the natural movements of the body.
It’s hard to be saying “bounce-hit” and at the same time overinstructing yourself, trying too hard or worrying about the score.
Focus is not achieved by staring hard at something. It is not trying to force focus, nor does it mean thinking hard about something. Natural focus occurs when the mind is interested. When
The greatest lapses in concentration come when we allow our minds to project what is about to happen or to dwell on what has already happened.
But there is one catch; the only way to get there is to leave Self 1 behind.
Self 2 will never be allowed to express spontaneity and excellence when Self 1 is playing some heavy ulterior game involving its self-image.
We live in an achievement-oriented society where people tend to be measured by their competence in various endeavors. Even before we received praise or blame for our first report card, we were loved or ignored for how well we performed our very first actions. From this pattern, one basic message came across loud, clear and often: you are a good person and worthy of respect only if you do things successfully. Of course, the kind of things needed to be done well to deserve love varies from family to family, but the underlying equation between self-worth and performance has been nearly universal.
But who said that I am to be measured by how well I do things? In fact, who said that I should be measured at all?
Each imagines that by beating the other he has in some way established his superiority over him, not just in a game, but as a person. What is seldom recognized is that the need to prove yourself is based on insecurity and self-doubt.
Yet in the process of learning to measure our value according to our abilities and achievements, the true and measureless value of each individual is ignored. Children who have been taught to measure themselves in this way often become adults driven by a compulsion to succeed which overshadows all else. The tragedy of this belief is not that they will fail to find the success they seek, but that they will not discover the love or even the self-respect they were led to believe will come with it.
By not trying, they always have an alibi: “I may have lost, but it doesn’t count because I really didn’t try.”
Because it is those very obstacles, the size and churning power of the wave, which draw from the surfer his greatest effort. It is only against the big waves that he is required to use all his skill, all his courage and concentration to overcome; only then can he realize the true limits of his capacities.
Each player tries his hardest to defeat the other, but in this use of competition it isn’t the other person we are defeating; it is simply a matter of overcoming the obstacles he presents. In true competition no person is defeated.
Inner stability is achieved not by burying one’s head in the sand at the sight of danger, but by acquiring the ability to see the true nature of what is happening and to respond appropriately.
The cause of most stress can be summed up by the word attachment. Self 1 gets so dependent upon things, situations, people and concepts within its experience that when change occurs or seems about to occur, it feels threatened. Freedom from stress does not necessarily involve giving up anything, but rather being able to let go of anything, when necessary, and know that one will still be all right. It comes from being more independent—not necessarily more solitary, but more reliant on one’s own inner resources for stability.
certainly our skills in relating to each other on the planet can improve. But the cornerstone of stability is to know that there is nothing wrong with the essential human being.
