Continuing my previous post about lessons for life from golf, there is yet another one i wish to talk about.
One day i was elated. had finished playing six holes and not lost a single ball. O boy, wait till my kids hear this!!
As i teed off on the 7th, it was draw shot and the ball went into the woods to the left. A second try produced the same result. Why can't i have a good day?!! Why does God heap misery on me only? I felt discriminated.
Feeling let down, i, along with the caddy went into the thicket. A few minutes and a couple of scratches later (thanks to the overhanging thorny branches), i was ready to give up. Even the permitted 'five minutes' of search were running out. And voila! what do i see. Two balls lying side by side on a thick pile of leaves. They were not the ones i had hit. But they were there alright. God giveth what he taketh away.
But more than the joy of finding the balls was the joy that God is not discriminating against me. He treats others just as well or badly.
In fact i consider myself fortunate that God has been very kind to me in life. Along with adversities he has always given me the courage to deal with them. And whenever he felt that i was wavering in my resolve to fight, he made things that much easier by sending a good samaritan along. Some help from an unexpected quarter. This would put me back on track to fight.
This incidence at golf taught me to have a deeper faith in God.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Lessons for life at Golf
When i first started playing golf, it would be quite frustrating. Select a club, line-up, a practice-swing and then the final swing. The club would go 'thud', hitting the ground and sending a huge chunk of turf flying and the ball would very reluctantly roll about ten yards before coming to a halt.
Thankfully over a period of time, one managed to earn the respect of the ball and it started travelling at least 50% of the desired distance. Yet it continued to exercise its own mind , because the direction was of its own choosing. But then that is what it turned out to be- a battle of minds. The ball's and mine.
Very soon it started obeying me with unfailing loyalty.
On the second hole i wondered if i would hit the ball into the trees to the left of the fairway. I banished this thought from my mind while i set up. Just as i was completing the back swing, the thought crept into my mind again. Most insiduously. Down came my club, up went the ball flying. What i had not realised that the ball had read my mind and did not want to disappoint me.So it went into the trees to the left of the fairway.
As i played more often, this story kept repeating itself. Into the water hazard on the 8th, into the trees or the water hazard, depending on what i thought on that day on the 13th, across the road on the 14th and so on.
I have not been able to establish the link between my mind and the ball, but it has happened. Again and again.
Then i thought, if the ball can go to the wrong places when i think of it, it should go to the right places too.
Let me try thinking of the right places for the ball to go. I would think of the ball landing right in the centre of the fairway or flying over a water hazard to land on the green. Lo and behold! It started happening that way. And now i am practising thinking like this more often.
When i came across Rhonda Byrne's 'The Secret' , i could draw astonishing parallels between what she has written about positive thinking and my experiences at the golf course.
It is all about the power of the mind. A very important lesson for life that i have learnt at golf.
Thankfully over a period of time, one managed to earn the respect of the ball and it started travelling at least 50% of the desired distance. Yet it continued to exercise its own mind , because the direction was of its own choosing. But then that is what it turned out to be- a battle of minds. The ball's and mine.
Very soon it started obeying me with unfailing loyalty.
On the second hole i wondered if i would hit the ball into the trees to the left of the fairway. I banished this thought from my mind while i set up. Just as i was completing the back swing, the thought crept into my mind again. Most insiduously. Down came my club, up went the ball flying. What i had not realised that the ball had read my mind and did not want to disappoint me.So it went into the trees to the left of the fairway.
As i played more often, this story kept repeating itself. Into the water hazard on the 8th, into the trees or the water hazard, depending on what i thought on that day on the 13th, across the road on the 14th and so on.
I have not been able to establish the link between my mind and the ball, but it has happened. Again and again.
Then i thought, if the ball can go to the wrong places when i think of it, it should go to the right places too.
Let me try thinking of the right places for the ball to go. I would think of the ball landing right in the centre of the fairway or flying over a water hazard to land on the green. Lo and behold! It started happening that way. And now i am practising thinking like this more often.
When i came across Rhonda Byrne's 'The Secret' , i could draw astonishing parallels between what she has written about positive thinking and my experiences at the golf course.
It is all about the power of the mind. A very important lesson for life that i have learnt at golf.
Approach to learning
A positive approach to learning is very important. I was lucky to have been nominated for an Executive Management Programme for Defence officers at XLRI, Jamshedpur.
It was like multiple windows being opened for me. The committed faculty took great pains to open these windows of the mind. The closer one went to the windows, the more one could see outside. New perspectives towards life were gained. The insights that i gained into the minds of the Professors left me deeply humbled. There is so much to learn!!
True Gurus. Thank you Sirs.
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