What is a tennis lesson?
At it’s worst, it is simply a transference of information that accomplishes very little.
The student feels uncomfortable in the body, playing and competing and to avoid that experience she/he collects information in the mistaken ‘belief’ that this information will ‘fix’ the problem. Knowledge dissipates the feeling of helplessness for some time, but when competition and playing begins again, the same feelings return.
This pattern continues ad nauseaum. Can you relate?
The tennis pro doubts his/ her ability to change anything or really help anyone; consequently, that uncomfortable feeling and insecurity is covered up by accumulating as much knowledge as possible. After all, people are coming to us because we are ‘experts’, because we ‘know’, but look deep into yourself, do you feel that you ‘know’?
Of course, you can convince yourself that you have helped some people and undoubtedly some people have improved under your watch, but was that luck or real knowing that produced those results? Have you also not felt complete failure? Focusing on the successes will help you cope through life better, while focusing on the failures will make you depressed. Is it small wonder that most people choose to forget about the failures?
How come we take credit for all our successes, but blame our failures on the students who just ‘don’t get it’ or have ‘limited’ athletic ability.
Is there any real difference between the two?
Can you relate?
Yesterday, I experienced watching a tennis lesson where a pro was trying to teach a beginner how to play. The pro had played world-class tennis and was a great player. A lot of information was exchanged, but the student’s body remained very uncomfortable, despite the fact that he was a good athlete.
The pro, in his heart, cannot have felt good because he saw the results and surely it cannot be that easy to fool yourself (maybe it is!).
The student came off the court and told me that he had just had the most ‘amazing’ lesson of his life and what a great teacher this pro was.
I was shocked and started laughing out loud, inside. What the heck do I know?
If both parties of a business transaction are content is there space for a third opinion?
Only if you wish to appear as an ass-hole!
I kept silent.