Steven Browner
Peace Initiative - Golf Educator
"Swinging" Away From Judgment! - Part 1”
Golf training concept 1 - formless swinging with a clear mind
In all activities where consciousness or "no-thingness" is a practice you have the opportunity to observe the self in a state of pure effort to overcome the lower mind created act of judgment. Golf is an example of one of those natural activities perfectly suited to first observe pure dysfunction and then exercise the practice of going deeper into peace and liberation of that rampant dysfunction. First let's discuss one great example of dysfunction in the mind created idea of golf.
FEAR
You may say..."I don't fear golf, it's my favorite hobby". Try this on for size. There you are on the first tee at the club ready to tee off on a beautiful crisp spring morning and suddenly the club pro shows up just before you hit. Your calm mind becomes a pool of fearful "what ifs"! What if I top it and look like a hacker? What if I slice it into the water? I have been taking lessons to improve from this pro for three months, if I miss-hit it I am going to look like a failure. (One noble true in this instance is that the pro is probably not that interested in the outcome of your shot and is just waiting for you to hit so he can speed ahead to go perform his duties) Regardless of this fact, and no matter if your shot is good or bad, you created a world of dysfunctional possibilities in that split second which dramatically has an effect on the rest of your day. Just to finish this story, let's say you do make a mess of the situation. You hook it OB and you are crushed!!! "I am never going to improve and I may as well quit"! Good luck enjoying the rest of the game and you may have some hard work to do overcoming the self-inflicted damage of this event. Here is another possible outcome. You crush it 300 yards down the fairway. Swelling with ego and pride, you imagine that now every time you see the Pro, he expects that you will do that again. Wait till you experience the new level of pressure you feel the next time you swing in front of the Pro. (Again, the truth is that the pro probable forgot about your prodigious hit a few moments after he sped off). Either way, the point is that in every situation when we self-impose our own ideas of what reality a situation created we invoke a chain of emotional baggage to have to deal with at a later date.
What if in the experience of this trauma there lies an opportunity to evolve past this mind created and self-imposed situational distress? Stay with me on this and we will overcome! With some conscious practice the opportunity exists to experience a real connection to joyful participation and a realization that peace blossoms in the formless practice of "Swinging away from judgment!"
First exercise:
Overcome fear by purely observing the reactive mind
More simply put, listen to the fear invoked and mind created opinions in your head as the first step to start “Swinging” away from judgment.
We all know that some golfers are famous for being the on course commentator to the rest of the foursome, but almost all golfers keep a running commentary in their own heads. Every shot (good or bad) is a reason to render a judgment.
So here is the challenge… Just listen to the constant flow of reactive opinions. If you ever stop and just listen to the stream of colorful opinions that silently run thru your mind, you may just be surprised to see that in golf, just as in life, you never stop judging everything!!!
Some golf examples - If you crush a drive on hole #7, your mind blurts out “That was the most solid drive of the day!” If you pull an approach shot into a greenside bunker, you quickly follow with this negative thought, “I knew I was lined up left of the pin!” How about this colorful mind created brushstroke, “that snap hook just gave away the match!” You may say, what is the challenge in just listening? Well, before you can attain formless swinging, you must realize that you alone are the self-creator of the fear and as the creator, you have the control to not pay attention to your creations.
After all of this rambling, here is your first simple assignment. Just let the thoughts float by without consciously grabbing on to them and making them manifest, it’s that simple really. Avoid our usual controlling desire; don’t try and force the thoughts to become positive, just stop paying any attention to this voice in your head. You will then come to the realization that this voice is just back ground noise that can be let go of. If you peacefully let go of it, you will stop giving power and reality to the fear and doubt that these thoughts create. Once you can consistently achieve this with patient practice, you will be on your way to “Swinging” away from judgment.
Stay tuned for exercise 2.
Steven Browner
The Golf Dojo
www.thegolfdojo.com