Monday, December 11, 2017

Applying Zen Wisdom to Mental Golf

Applying Zen Wisdom to Mental Golf

How is Zen wisdom applicable to your mental golf?

Apply Zen wisdom to mental golf, so that you have a different perspective on the game. You play golf for enjoyment and personal growth. You measure your success on the process, rather than the outcome.

Apply Zen wisdom to your mind, which is the main asset of mental game. Enhanced golf equipment, sophisticated training aids, state-of-the-art videos for swing analysis may result in appreciable improvement of your techniques, but the mental golf wisdom holds the key to your ultimate golfing success.

Apply Zen wisdom to any difficult golf situation you may find yourself in. Mental golf wisdom decrees that you stay in the present, keep focused, clear you mind of any distraction, and do not get down on yourself after a poor shot or round.

If you are in a hazard, focus only on "getting out of it," and hence the outcome would become insignificant.

In Zen wisdom, emphasis is always on the process, never the outcome; it is always in the present, not the future.

Apply Zen wisdom to your attitude and mentality. How can you learn or improve if your mind is already full of your own opinions and thoughts? Empty your mind first! Have the beginner’s mentality: learn from everyone andeverything, and there is always more to learn. Settle and center your mind and body to change any unhelpful habit or behavior detrimental to your golfing success. The right attitude and mentality to learning and improving are part of your mental golf wisdom.

Empty any thought of having already accomplished some golfing success, otherwise you may lack motivation to forge yourself forward.

Remember, your mind has the potential to be as big as the universe. The more you empty your mind, the bigger it is. Do not just focus tightly on the hole: let your mind go beyond. This is mental golf wisdom.

Apply Zen wisdom to control your thinking and your thoughts. In addition to “always in the present moment,” Zen wisdom is also about awareness, about action with awareness. In Zen, awareness and mind are synonymous. Awareness is like a mirror, reflecting all your thoughts, perceptions, and feelings, but they are only reflections. Likewise, you have thoughts, but you are not your thoughts, because your thoughts are not your mind which is merely a reflection of   In Zen, awareness and mind are synonymous. Awareness is like a mirror, reflecting all your thoughts, perceptions, and feelings, but they are only reflections. Likewise, you have thoughts, but you are not your thoughts, because your thoughts are not your mind which is merely a reflection of those thoughts of yours.

Changing the thoughts can change the self: this is essence of mental golf wisdom.

How can you separate the thoughts from the self?

You identify with awareness, not your mind which is only a reflection of that awareness. As thoughts arise, you just let them come up and go by; you do not purposely invite them nor do you consciously dismiss them. Just let them be, because you are not your thoughts. With this perspective, your thoughts are merely words or images coursing through your mind, with no more tangible reality than those pictures flashing on a TV screen.

That is exactly what happens during a meditation: you focus on something, whether it is a thought or an object, and everything else may come and go, and your mind stays focused.

Apply Zen wisdom to perception of your true self, which is basically good. Give yourself the self-confidence that you rightly deserve. You do not need to prove yourself that you could be Tiger Woods. You do not evaluate your performance based on how you play your golf shots; if you do, you may come up with quick fixes and patch-up jobs, only further undermining your golfing success. Mental golf instills self-confidence into you.

The self-confidence engendered by Zen wisdom, however, is different from the “false” self-confidence based on unrealistic goals, or dependent on only positive results.

The Zen self-confidence is totally unconditional: your swing becomes free and spontaneous, and you play without anxiety, fear, self-doubt, and frustration. Your action becomes spontaneous, and so is the outcome. The self-confidence inspired by mental golf is unadulterated and unaffected.

In addition, Zen self-confidence is enlightening: you recognize some of your self-defeating habits and behavior that may hinder your golfing success. Do not analyze or change your swing; instead, change your perspective of how you should apply mental golf to the game for golfing success.

(More next time on applying Zen wisdom on golf course)

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau


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