««
Back to issues list
Oct 04, 2004 :: I think someone is laughing at me
The Lost Art of Concentration
If we were to beam ourselves forward to the end of the league season and consider why we did not reach our personal goals, we would all point to lack of concentration as the key ingredients to our failure. Likewise, if we did reach our goals, we would point to the ability to concentrate as the key to our success.
Lack of concentration comes in many forms. Once, while I was shooting the key ball, my mind decided to suddenly disappear, just leave, and I was left with this vacuum. In fact, both sides of my head began to contract. My cue came forward with no real purpose. There was no reason to deliver the shot. All reason and sanity was gone when my mind left. So I failed.
In another game, I thought it would be a good time to deliver a speech. I was sighting a key ball and my mind shifted to an unknown banquet and began a dialog I was unfamiliar with. Naturally I was more interested in the speech than the shot at hand. And, you know the results.
The mind is a powerful thing. It’s very difficult to harness. In fact, the more you try to harness it, the more elusive it becomes. I lined up a key shot, and began to deliver my victory speech. I sighted a winning shot and began to deliver my sympathy speech. What makes the mind take off on its own like that? Doesn't it have an interest in the outcome of the match? Can't it stick around to see if I make the shot or not?
I wrote "Point The Way," I know how the inner game works and I have a procedure to correct a wayward mind. I use a countdown system and get to all systems go, and deliver the winning shot. I lean over and begin to count. One, two, three and then I shoot. While I am counting, I find myself concentrating on the expected shot. I have greater command of present moment awareness.
Sometimes however, rather than annoy me with interference, the mind will just simply disappear. If I were to stop my actions at that moment, I could regain my composure and go on to deliver the winning shot. Sometimes when my mind disappears I simply stop and wait. In no time, it returns. Often times, however, I become a willing participant to this self destruction. The mind moves the hand that shoots the shots. When the hand moves without the mind, it does not resemble a shot.
Let us beam backwards to the present and resolve to stay in the one shot at a time mode. Do not shoot until you are ready for that shot. Recognize when the mind decides to wander. When we reach the end of the season, we will look back and know that the ability to concentrate was the key to our success.
