Power vs. Force: On Perception
Photo Credit: Dave Carlson, Powerplay Photography
All wars prove that violent emotions are extremely potent in precipitating mental rearrangements. Every great conflict has been followed by an era of materialism and greed in which the ideals for which the conflict ostensibly was waged are submergedThis is inevitable because war evokes hate which impels a descent in consciousness from the plane of the ideal to the level where the conflict is waged. If we would become as emotionally aroused over our ideals as we become over our dislikes, we would ascend to the plane of our ideal as easily as we now descend to the level of our hates.
-Neville Goddard, Out of This World
We are what we focus on. Attention and energy are linked.
And our level of perception dictates what and how we focus.
When we live below 200, we see a world of ‘differences’. A world of separateness.
You and I are not alike in this world.
Coach and players are on different teams…
“You guys can’t be doing X.”
“How many times have I said that you can’t do that.”
“If you’d just listen to the coaches for once.”
The above 200 fields of energy are also available to us. Where there is unity between player and coach. Where instead of choosing to make war, we can live in peace.
Instead of focusing on the negatives of what a player can’t do, this energy field allows us to focus on what they do well and what we love about them.
What’s the problem?
Well, we’ve been told we have this negativity bias…
But what if we are just making the choice to see the negative because:
We want to, if we can see the ‘bad’ we get to ‘coach’ it out of them (we get to do something)
It was programmed into us. Most of our coaches growing up weren’t ‘good’
In any case, your default perception or the way you see the world most often should be examined, questioned and in many cases, thrown away…
Here’s the biggest thing I took away from this quote after reflecting on it. Read this last bit again:
If we would become as emotionally aroused over our ideals as we become over our dislikes, we would ascend to the plane of our ideal as easily as we now descend to the level of our hates.
2 years ago, if you got me talking about the negative aspects of what I called “Old Guard Coaching”, I would get fired up. I’d even get angry. But with that energy, I could talk about the subject all day long, it could hijack my entire day if someone got me going… I was ‘passionate’ about it.
2 years ago, I also couldn’t experience any of the high-level emotions. I had no idea what any of these ‘felt’ like:
Joy
Peace
Love
But man could I talk some serious shit about the things I didn’t like about our industry.
Going back to the Neville quote, I could descend at a Hall of Fame level and couldn’t not ascend at all. I couldn’t share what I did not have inside of me.
Those that go searching for love only make manifest their own lovelessness. And the loveless never find love, only the loving find love, and they never have to seek for it. - D. H. Lawrence
Many coaches I’ve played for and have observed are also in a league of their own when it comes to dropping levels to anger, guilt, and apathy. They can sling venom at their players with the deadliest snakes in the world.
But they don’t ever smile on the bench. Have never made a joke in front of the team. And wouldn’t dare dance in the locker room after a big win.
All lows, no highs.
I’ve been there, don’t make it an ingrained pattern. Moods become personalities when the mood is sustained for some time.
If you need to read this piece to break the pattern, read it again.