Tag Archives: #Golf as Guru
During Corporate America years at Coors a lasting experience was the opportunity to work with Hyler Bracey, President, the Atlanta Consulting Group. The Coors family had hired Hyler and his associates to facilitate transition of Adolph Coors Company from several dependent, vertically organized companies to two independent companies, Coors Brewing Company and Graphic Packaging Company.
At the age of 28, Hyler was in a stock car racing accident and burned over 60% of his body. His face was severely disfigured, and his fingers were like burned twigs in a bonfire. However, his character, personality and mentality, manifested through his blue eyes and subconscious mind, were magnetizing and drew you to his heart. Hyler modeled that scars offer a story of the past and do not dictate where one intends to go. He walked the talk of one of the key concepts he and his associates shared with the Coors leadership team: life happens because of me and not to me, or the concept of 100% responsibility.
Daily we are witness to scurrying about to avoid being identified as the culprit. In our culture there is intense desire to be off the hook; and clever and devious actions taken to get off the hook are known as cover your posterior. Quite simply, desired results do not equal excuses coupled with no desired results; and blaming, justifying, spinning, lying and choosing not to accept responsibility when something goes wrong is a negative life and leadership strategy. Being right is a booby prize! The real prize is the desired result which has not been realized. Blaming and justifying put us at the mercy of other people and events and do not make things happen. A better strategy is not to give away power and influence by blaming and justifying. Take charge: 100% responsibility, I am 100% responsible and others are 0% responsible.
Imagine the power in this country where everyone is assuming 100% responsibility for its success. Imagine how refreshing it would be for the President, Senators and Representatives to be examining what they did and what they could do rather than expending energy and plotting how to get off the hook. Perhaps the greatest value of the 100%-0% concept is that it focuses energy on creating desired results rather than finding ways of avoiding responsibility. Because it encourages folks to develop new options to produce desired results, it is a deeply empowering concept.
Thank you Hyler for pointing the way to 100% responsibility, a leader’s tool to make things happen and generate positive differences in every area of American lives. The negative option is wasting time and money blaming, defending, justifying, spinning, meeting, lying, cheating, making excuses and not getting the job done for Americans.
The golf course has been a wonderful place to learn about and practice the art and science of mastering the self; health, wellness and well-being; and mind”full”ness, awareness and self-restraint. The game’s gifts reminds of General Douglas MacArthur’s words, uttered in the context of West Point, Black Knights of the Hudson football: “Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that at other times and in other places, bear he fruits of victory.”
A recent journey, inspired by the golf instruction to trust the subconscious mind to swing the golf club, has been into the wonders and world of the subconscious mind. Little did I realize that the subconscious mind touches everything we think and do; that our character, personality, mentally and magnetism are expressions of the subconscious mind; and that we receive back the programming we have consciously or unconsciously offered to the subconscious. A frequent question has been: Why didn’t I learn about the subconscious mind in school? Two answers that have emerged are that folks want to control the evolution of the lives of others; and that awareness and understanding of the subconscious are subjective and not scientific. Consequently, as humans we wake up, grow up and show up through the conscious mind where only 10% of who we are exists. Unfortunately, we miss 90% of who we are.
Recent golf experiences with the power of harmony between the conscious and subconscious mind offers that trusting the subconscious to swing the club has resulted in playing golf that is the “funest” and “bestest” ever. The disposition and attitude about life and living are more positive, there is more patience, swing thoughts have become almost non-existent and health, wellness and well-being have moved to the front of each day with mantras. A nice mantra is “Every day in every respect, I am getting better and better.” (Emile Coue’) If your desire and will are fired up and you are ready to learn more about the subconscious, Christian D. Larson’s The Great Within might work for you. Have fun, trust the subconscious and hit ‘em high and straight…club through the ball to the target.
Ever since teeing up that first golf ball with Mom and Dad at the age of seven, golf has been a patient life coach; and as the years have sped by, the sport continues to coach and counsel. Recent experiences have offered that if open and psychologically ready for the infinite messages, “simple” in golf and life can be discovered beyond sport and life’s complexities.
As humans, Christian Larson’s (The Great Within) message is clear: we are reflections—thinking, personality and character—of the language we live-in. As Abel Leighton Allen contends, “Our todays are the result of our past thinking, our tomorrows the result of our present thinking. We have been our mental parents, and we shall be our own mental children.” How would Woody and Birdy Ball, Golf as Guru, use this taste of philosophy on every shot or putting stroke on the golf course? “Too complicated for us: Just learn to program and trust the subconscious to hit the #$@% golf ball to an intended target.”
Step One: Create a clear, conscious vision of the ball at the desired target; and feel what is required to place the ball at the target: body mechanics, club mechanics, swing motion and ball position.
-Club required.
-Immaculate set-up.
-One piece take-away.
-No hurry to transition for full torque turn.
-Smooth transition.
-Accelerating forward swing and release.
-Club face square to ball-target line at impact.
-Extension of club to target.
-Complete finish.
Step Two: Go to the breath and program the subconscious with the vision of the what and the how—breathe it, think it, deeply feel it, see it, taste it, smell it and touch it.
Step three: Proceed with the pre-shot routine and ritual for the desired shot or stroke.
Step four: Celebrate!
As Birdy offers, “Yes! We are thinking, personality and character reflections of the language we live in. Let’s live in the language we desire! Not the swing thoughts and whims of the monkey mind that keep us mired two shots from insanity.”
