September
2008
Getting Into the Swing of Life
I have played golf for more than 30 years. I love it because it is a beautiful chance to connect mind and body through focused attention to a single goal: getting the ball in the hole. For me, playing golf is very much a metaphor for the process of life itself.
Recently, I gained some insight through the process of improving my game. For years I had been struggling to hit longer drives. The lengths of the shots were not so bad, about 230 yards on average, but I knew this was far short of the 300 or more yards that professionals hit. I kept wondering, “How do they do that? Why can’t I do that?” I played for so many years without hitting that mark that it started to seem impossible.
Then someone suggested a slight change in my swing. They suggested that I position my hips so that the weight of the hips would go into the swing, rather than relying on mere arm strength. I tried this, and I could feel the energy of my entire body transferring into the ball. Suddenly, the length of my drive jumped to 310 yards.
If you set a vision for your life, you are bound to come up against situations that seem impossible to overcome. Like me and my drive length, it may seem like you experience the same thing over and over again without making any headway. The key is to look very carefully at the habits you have and ask if they are really channeling energy in the right direction. In the case of my golf swing, only a very tiny adjustment made a huge difference, and the same might be true for your life. Previously I had mistakenly thought that I needed to hit the ball harder for it to go farther. Likewise, success in life does not always mean using more strength. Even very slight shifts in habit and attention can make all the difference.