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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