Do you ever get intimidated by your opponent? If so, this tip is for you.
Certainly, there are players at every level who have great reps or rankings and their stature is such that the prospect of playing them is scary.
On one level, it is good to understand that every player has a range, meaning they don’t always play exactly the same way every time they step on the court. We all have good days and bad days. So we never know how our opponent will play on any given day and the same is certainly true of our own game. Every match is a match to be unraveled; a mystery to be explored.
On another level, to be intimidated is feel doubt about our own abilities. It is fear and the fear is that we are not good enough and we may be ‘humiliated’ by our opponent.
If you are ever plagued by fear and doubt, instead of fighting it or trying to escape from it, just move into and see that there is a voice in your head that sometimes tells you how great you are, while at other times tells you, you are jut not good enough.
Both these voices are just stories that are created by the mind and while we cannot stop these stories, we can remind ourselves they are stories that have no basis in reality.
We can marvel at how a simple story can affect us in such a ‘real’ way. We can be amazed at how a fictitious story can alter our skill set in such an surprisingly powerful way. We can take note of the physical affects that happen to our body based on the story we buy into.
The goal is not to change the story, but to realize that all are stories and real is something different. To bring attention to the body and this whole game played by ego on the being is something to be enjoyed and marveled at.
The more awareness we have of the games played by ego, the less powerful a hold ego will have over us.
Enjoy the journey……………..