Last Saturday afternoon I watched our 2nd XV rugby at home. In the bar after the game, I became aware that my car keys had gone - no longer in my various pockets.
I went out to the pitch and proceeded to retrace as many steps as I could, remembering where I'd walked in the course of watching the match. I was confident at this stage I would find them, and I engaged in some conscious-unconscious dialogue to pool all resources! All to no avail!
I left the car at the club field and got a lift home. Next day was pleasant and sunny, so I incorporated walking the dog with re-searching the relevant areas of the field. Again, no joy. I then went to the police station to see if they had been handed in. This turned up nothing either!
At this stage I was beginning to think the best method was to use a metal detector - without really applying some of my own previously used methods.
Monday came,and it was another sunny day - so I set out once more to search.
Only this time I decided to be meticulous in (a) my walking the search areas and (b) my close attention to those areas.
In the course of a lot of my technical sports coaching, I tell players to REALLY watch the ball, study rather than just look at it. I concluded that in the course of my previous searches I had been looking for something small enough to be covered by leaves and hidden in lengthy grass. I wasn't giving it my 'best shot' in other words - I was guessing, and not even best guessing.
I duly found the keys, and with it came a surge of feeling of success and freedom - rather akin to how I felt when I passed my driving test many years ago!
Apart from the obvious - what learning opportunities has this presented for me?
* Was the losing of the keys unconsciously noticeable?
* Heed my own advice and use ALL the sensual resources available to me.
* Avoid guesswork when quality information is easily available.
* Is this kind of search an analogue or a digital process? When I know the answer, act accordingly.
PW
The Wright Way
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Sensations
This post is inspired by two random yet, for me, synchronous posts by colleagues on Facebook.
The first was a quote by the artist Paul Cezanne:-
"For an Impressionist to paint from nature is not to paint the subject, but to realize sensations."
This reminded me of a recent conversation with my mother about her own method of painting when she sets out to paint a copy of a Great Master. Her best work in this field comes not from the perfection of the copy itself but her representation of the original in style, form and depth. And in the execution of that representation, she (too) is realising sensations - both hers plus also, and moreso, the originating artist.
The second was a mention of an album by Ludovico Einaudi, composer and pianist - a particular favourite of mine, and whose music inspires for me a whole range of experiences and evocations, on many neurological levels.
These two posts, read one after the other, sparked a chain of thought that led me to go onto YouTube and play a piece by Ludovico Einaudi set to a video someone had filmed in the Canary Isles of two sunsets. Now I have played this clip many times and am quite familiar with both the film and the music. However - THIS time I came to watch and listen with the quote by Paul Cezanne very much in my mental foreground.
Here is the address:-
The experience was transforming, and transcended all previous experiences of this particular clip.
You may need to play it several times - but I invite you to pay close attention to the following:-
* Allow your eyes to focus on the light source of the film (it is the setting sun)
* Allow your auditory attention to first follow the melody line, mostly played by the cello - and then next time follow the bass line, played by the piano.
* Finally allow the focus of your eyes to rest (converge) at an infinite point beyond the light source.
Notice your sensations as you do these actions. Notice how your experience changes, each time. And finally notice all the changes in your overall state.
PW
The first was a quote by the artist Paul Cezanne:-
"For an Impressionist to paint from nature is not to paint the subject, but to realize sensations."
This reminded me of a recent conversation with my mother about her own method of painting when she sets out to paint a copy of a Great Master. Her best work in this field comes not from the perfection of the copy itself but her representation of the original in style, form and depth. And in the execution of that representation, she (too) is realising sensations - both hers plus also, and moreso, the originating artist.
The second was a mention of an album by Ludovico Einaudi, composer and pianist - a particular favourite of mine, and whose music inspires for me a whole range of experiences and evocations, on many neurological levels.
These two posts, read one after the other, sparked a chain of thought that led me to go onto YouTube and play a piece by Ludovico Einaudi set to a video someone had filmed in the Canary Isles of two sunsets. Now I have played this clip many times and am quite familiar with both the film and the music. However - THIS time I came to watch and listen with the quote by Paul Cezanne very much in my mental foreground.
Here is the address:-
The experience was transforming, and transcended all previous experiences of this particular clip.
You may need to play it several times - but I invite you to pay close attention to the following:-
* Allow your eyes to focus on the light source of the film (it is the setting sun)
* Allow your auditory attention to first follow the melody line, mostly played by the cello - and then next time follow the bass line, played by the piano.
* Finally allow the focus of your eyes to rest (converge) at an infinite point beyond the light source.
Notice your sensations as you do these actions. Notice how your experience changes, each time. And finally notice all the changes in your overall state.
PW
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Dealing with your "Bulls"
We all encounter dilemmas - and quite often we encounter a number all at once. At these moments we are in danger of overwhelm, emotional overload. As we struggle to pull each one into perspective, we lose perspective on the others - our "bandwidth" of coping and resolving is not broad enough.
One definition of a dilemma is - "state of uncertainty or perplexity especially as requiring a choice between equally unfavorable options". The phrase "The Horns of a Dilemma" seems to have originated from Roman times from the Latin phrase argumentum cornutum or "an argument with horns". In modern parlance this is finding ourselves "Between a rock and hard place", and it leads us to "Not being able to see the wood for the trees".
Focussing on the metaphorical horns for a moment, we often anticipate dilemmas as charging bulls.
When I was young I spent quite a lot of time out walking in the countryside. Because I was an only child, this activity was mostly enjoyed in the company of parents, aunts, uncles, older cousins - in fact, I was almost always the youngest there. One of the features of being in older company is they are more mindful of the dangers surrounding them, and especially those relating to a small boy! A prevalent danger when the footpath entered a new field was perceived as "is there a bull here?" In the mind of small boy, EVERY field might possibly contain a BULL - whilst the percentage is (in reality) very, very low. Couple this perception with an over-active imagination, and the bull - and those HORNS - is a perpetual and clear and present danger!
Looking at the metaphorical parallel - one dilemma is probably something we can deal with. Two dilemmas - becoming difficult. More than two - panic, overload!
With one dilemma we can choose to either RUN for survival to a place of refuge, or confront the bull and be a matador or just plain smart. And that's how we all cope to a greater or lesser degree. With two or more dilemmas we now have horns coming from multiple directions.
So how do you deal with your Bulls? Do you stand firm, or do you run for cover? If you are being charged by multiple Bulls, what then?
There's a shift we can experience in this metaphorical landscape, which can be really useful in throwing open some more windows on broader perspectives for us. It's the Disney effect - the cartoon representation of what is happening for us. How would a Disney cartoon character deal with the Bulls? What options are there? Some immediately spring to mind...
Jump on a bull's back and control the horns - wait and wait until they are really close then jump out of the way so they crash into each other - become a charger yourself and chase after the biggest bull - PLUS the more you think about it, the more examples will spring up for you.
The thing is - by looking at reframes and alternatives you are presented with multiple options - plus by looking at them within the framework of a metaphorical landscape you are presented with an inner, unconscious representation of what the problem(s) mean for you and how you can resolve them. The "trick" is to translate the best metaphorical outcome back into real life terms. And this is where you need to trust your unconscious to guide and present you with the most favourable choice.
All the answers are there within you - you just need a strategy for dealing with your Bulls!
PW
One definition of a dilemma is - "state of uncertainty or perplexity especially as requiring a choice between equally unfavorable options". The phrase "The Horns of a Dilemma" seems to have originated from Roman times from the Latin phrase argumentum cornutum or "an argument with horns". In modern parlance this is finding ourselves "Between a rock and hard place", and it leads us to "Not being able to see the wood for the trees".
Focussing on the metaphorical horns for a moment, we often anticipate dilemmas as charging bulls.
When I was young I spent quite a lot of time out walking in the countryside. Because I was an only child, this activity was mostly enjoyed in the company of parents, aunts, uncles, older cousins - in fact, I was almost always the youngest there. One of the features of being in older company is they are more mindful of the dangers surrounding them, and especially those relating to a small boy! A prevalent danger when the footpath entered a new field was perceived as "is there a bull here?" In the mind of small boy, EVERY field might possibly contain a BULL - whilst the percentage is (in reality) very, very low. Couple this perception with an over-active imagination, and the bull - and those HORNS - is a perpetual and clear and present danger!
Looking at the metaphorical parallel - one dilemma is probably something we can deal with. Two dilemmas - becoming difficult. More than two - panic, overload!
With one dilemma we can choose to either RUN for survival to a place of refuge, or confront the bull and be a matador or just plain smart. And that's how we all cope to a greater or lesser degree. With two or more dilemmas we now have horns coming from multiple directions.
So how do you deal with your Bulls? Do you stand firm, or do you run for cover? If you are being charged by multiple Bulls, what then?
There's a shift we can experience in this metaphorical landscape, which can be really useful in throwing open some more windows on broader perspectives for us. It's the Disney effect - the cartoon representation of what is happening for us. How would a Disney cartoon character deal with the Bulls? What options are there? Some immediately spring to mind...
Jump on a bull's back and control the horns - wait and wait until they are really close then jump out of the way so they crash into each other - become a charger yourself and chase after the biggest bull - PLUS the more you think about it, the more examples will spring up for you.
The thing is - by looking at reframes and alternatives you are presented with multiple options - plus by looking at them within the framework of a metaphorical landscape you are presented with an inner, unconscious representation of what the problem(s) mean for you and how you can resolve them. The "trick" is to translate the best metaphorical outcome back into real life terms. And this is where you need to trust your unconscious to guide and present you with the most favourable choice.
All the answers are there within you - you just need a strategy for dealing with your Bulls!
PW
Monday, September 6, 2010
Tennis - Insider Nuggets or the continued quest for the Holy Grail?
In the course of watching Andy Murray's demise at the US Open 2010, I heard something mentioned from Peter Fleming on commentary that rather made my jaw hang limp.
He was talking about tennis players at this level just having to "...allow their subconscious to run the show once they are in matches. If they try and think their way through a match then they're lost..."
Firstly I was delighted to hear a former top flight player acknowledging the role the SUB(or UN)conscious plays in sporting contests. Psychology is a crucial factor in all sport, and there are a number of sports where psychology plays an enormous part in players' success or otherwise. Also, away from any of the martial arts, in heads-up one-to-ones, tennis is just about the best sport there is for us to see this in action. Even golf, where psychological approaches are well considered, it is still more about the player v the course, than player v player.
Secondly, Peter Fleming and fellow commentator, Mark Petchey, went on to talk about confidence, and "wouldn't it be great" if players could have this installed for them at an unconscious level.
Now I moved to the edge of my chair, thinking that they were about to reveal some "insider nuggets" about what is one of my stock in trade processes - Sports Hypnosis. Instead, I was almost falling off the chair when I heard this:-
"I know there are people who can do this, but there aren't that many in the world - and I've never heard of it's use by anyone in tennis."
Can this be for real? Surely at the top level, there are enough SP's** working in tennis to be able to extend to their clients an efficacious and beneficial use of changing states, and an ability to utilise hypnotic phenomena within those state changes, to instal and anchor confidence and a whole range of other desirable resources. Surely?
Or perhaps this IS a case where the only thing a pickpocket sees, when in a room full of saints, is their pockets. The familiarity of rocket science to a rocket scientist means that what is a straightforward and everyday process to him, is seen as amazing, bizarre, wonderful, off the wall, complicated and insoluble to everyone else.
I have watched crumbling sportspersons from the absolute beginner to those at the very, very top of their chosen sport - knowing that I (and countless colleagues) would be able to guide and effect in them the changes they most require.
The thing is - (and here there is just a hint of cynicism), we seem to be more accepted by, and accessible to, the beginners and learners!
My perception is that "Insider Nuggets" are UNCONSCIOUS processes, while the "Quest for the Holy Grail" is a distinctly CONSCIOUS process!
** - (SP's: Sports Psychologists)
PW
He was talking about tennis players at this level just having to "...allow their subconscious to run the show once they are in matches. If they try and think their way through a match then they're lost..."
Firstly I was delighted to hear a former top flight player acknowledging the role the SUB(or UN)conscious plays in sporting contests. Psychology is a crucial factor in all sport, and there are a number of sports where psychology plays an enormous part in players' success or otherwise. Also, away from any of the martial arts, in heads-up one-to-ones, tennis is just about the best sport there is for us to see this in action. Even golf, where psychological approaches are well considered, it is still more about the player v the course, than player v player.
Secondly, Peter Fleming and fellow commentator, Mark Petchey, went on to talk about confidence, and "wouldn't it be great" if players could have this installed for them at an unconscious level.
Now I moved to the edge of my chair, thinking that they were about to reveal some "insider nuggets" about what is one of my stock in trade processes - Sports Hypnosis. Instead, I was almost falling off the chair when I heard this:-
"I know there are people who can do this, but there aren't that many in the world - and I've never heard of it's use by anyone in tennis."
Can this be for real? Surely at the top level, there are enough SP's** working in tennis to be able to extend to their clients an efficacious and beneficial use of changing states, and an ability to utilise hypnotic phenomena within those state changes, to instal and anchor confidence and a whole range of other desirable resources. Surely?
Or perhaps this IS a case where the only thing a pickpocket sees, when in a room full of saints, is their pockets. The familiarity of rocket science to a rocket scientist means that what is a straightforward and everyday process to him, is seen as amazing, bizarre, wonderful, off the wall, complicated and insoluble to everyone else.
I have watched crumbling sportspersons from the absolute beginner to those at the very, very top of their chosen sport - knowing that I (and countless colleagues) would be able to guide and effect in them the changes they most require.
The thing is - (and here there is just a hint of cynicism), we seem to be more accepted by, and accessible to, the beginners and learners!
My perception is that "Insider Nuggets" are UNCONSCIOUS processes, while the "Quest for the Holy Grail" is a distinctly CONSCIOUS process!
** - (SP's: Sports Psychologists)
PW
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