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‘If I assume that I am making myself more worthy of respect by winning, then I must believe, consciously or unconsciously, that by defeating someone, I am making him less worthy of respect. I can’t go up without pushing someone else down.’
it’s not about winning or losing the match, it’s about ‘making the maximum effort during every point because I realize that that is where the true value lies.’
“The secret to winning any game,” he wrote, “lies in not trying too hard.”
while learning tennis, you begin to learn how to focus your attention and how to trust in yourself, you have learned something far more valuable than how to hit a forceful backhand.
clearest possible image of your desired outcomes is a most useful method for communicating with Self 2, especially when playing a match. Once you are competing it is too late
“Between the idea / and the reality / Between the motion / and the act / Falls the Shadow.”)
A child doesn’t have to break the habit of crawling, because it doesn’t think it has a habit. It simply leaves crawling as it finds walking an easier way to get around.
If a person is out on the court mainly to satisfy the desires and doubts of ego, it is likely that in spite of the lesser results, he will choose to let Self 1 play the major role.
As the mind is kept in the present, it becomes calm. Focus means keeping the mind now and here.
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 this occurs, the mind is drawn irresistibly toward the object (or subject) of interest.
I have found that the practice of listening to the ball is best used during practice. If you become sensitive to sound in practice, you will find that you will then use sound automatically during a match to encourage the repetition of solid shots. The
it comes at its own timing, when I am ready for it—humble, respectful, not expecting it, somehow placing myself lower than it, not above it. Then when the moment is right, it comes, and I can enjoy the absence of Self 1 thought and the presence of joy.
Though I hated losing, I didn’t really enjoy beating someone else; I found it slightly embarrassing. I was a tirelessly hard worker and never stopped trying to improve my strokes.
true competition is identical with true cooperation.
Maximum effort does not mean the super-exertion of Self 1. It means concentration, determination, and trusting your body to “let it happen.”
When I’m concerned only about winning, I’m caring about something that I can’t wholly control. Whether I win or lose the external game is a result of my opponent’s skill and effort as well as my own. When one is emotionally attached to results that one can’t control, one tends to become anxious and then try too hard.
simply to build on your stability. Support and encourage your Self 2, knowing that the stronger it gets, the more it will take to throw you off balance, and the quicker you can regain your balance.
Focus of attention in the present moment, the only one you can really live in, is at the heart of this book and at the heart of the art of doing anything well.
letting go of my grip on life released an energy that paradoxically made it possible for me to run with utter abandon toward life.
“Abandon” is a good word to describe what happens to tennis players who feel they have nothing to lose. They stop caring about the outcome and play all out.
cultivate a state of relaxed concentration, trust in the body’s innate intelligence, and learn to perform by tapping into a realm of heightened awareness where actions flow effortlessly and instinctively.
the will to win is a desire to fully engage in the present moment: to give our best effort and learn from every experience, with joy, love, and gratitude, for the universal gifts of life.
