WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.319 --> 00:00:03.600 Hello. 2 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:06.960 I'm Josh Crockett from Oregon City, Oregon, and I play 3 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:08.839 at Stone Creek Golf Course. 4 00:00:09.080 --> 00:00:10.880 Welcome to Golf Smarter. Hi. 5 00:00:11.160 --> 00:00:14.359 This is Bob Lawiki from Westernville, Ohio, and I play 6 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:17.879 at Darby Creek Golf Course. This is Golf Smarter number 7 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:19.839 one thousand and twenty seven. 8 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:24.120 The essential difference between a mindful state of mind and 9 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:27.800 a chaotic state of mind is called meta awareness. Meta 10 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:31.440 awareness would be imagine that your normal consciousness is the 11 00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:35.159 flashlight beam. Imagine there's a smaller flashlight bolted to the 12 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:37.719 big flashlight, and the purpose of the beam of light 13 00:00:37.799 --> 00:00:40.640 coming from the small flashlight is to always focus on 14 00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:43.079 where the big flashlight beam of light is focusing. So 15 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:45.920 you always know where am I paying attention right now 16 00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:47.880 in this moment, And if it turns out you're paying 17 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:50.560 attentions in a bad place, a place that could trigger 18 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:53.560 a yet for example, or a flinch or just a 19 00:00:53.640 --> 00:00:57.039 poorly time release. If you recognize my mind goes to 20 00:00:57.119 --> 00:00:59.840 a place that then triggers a breakdown in the mind body, 21 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:03.000 or just a bad swing is a result when my 22 00:01:03.079 --> 00:01:06.640 mind wanders off, knowing that that mind wandering off is 23 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:08.719 the main cause or even the only cause of a 24 00:01:08.760 --> 00:01:11.159 bad swing can be of great help because now you 25 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:23.280 have the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. 26 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:21.560 Rules of the road to understanding how consciousness works in 27 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:23.519 creating a better mental game. 28 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:29.319 With Jim Waldron. This is Golf Smarter, sharing stories, tips 29 00:01:29.319 --> 00:01:32.519 and insights from great golf minds to help you lower 30 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:36.480 your score and raise your golf IQ. Here's your host, 31 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:37.439 Fred Green. 32 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:40.359 Welcome back to the Golf Smarter podcast. 33 00:01:40.439 --> 00:01:44.760 Jim, thanks man, really appreciate being here for my one 34 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:45.879 million appearance. 35 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:50.920 That's always the beginning of these episodes, like figuring out 36 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:54.439 how many times Jim Waldron has been. It's probably in 37 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:57.359 the thirty something range. I think we discussed the last time. 38 00:01:57.760 --> 00:01:59.079 Somebody's going to remember. 39 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:03.840 That's the number of the tounds familiar to me. Yeah, 40 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:06.359 it's interesting. We didn't do thirty six holes. But you know, 41 00:02:08.680 --> 00:02:15.479 but but since the beginning of our podcast time, you've 42 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:19.639 become quite prolific, and you've done more than thirty seven 43 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:22.599 podcast episodes with a lot of people, haven't you. 44 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:25.159 Yeah, I'm getting invited pretty much. I get at least 45 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:28.960 about one invitation a week the last year, from some 46 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.520 really interesting ones, including kind of what we're going to 47 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:36.080 talk about today. There's a whole other sub genre in 48 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:38.520 the podcast world that you may not be familiar with, 49 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:41.240 but has to do with people who are interested in 50 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:45.759 the nature of human consciousness. So there's a consciousness community 51 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:46.719 on the Internet. 52 00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:50.599 And then there's golf consciousness community. 53 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:53.879 No, there's not really a golf conscious there's more what 54 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:56.280 you've been doing. There's a golf mental game community. But 55 00:02:57.319 --> 00:02:59.199 what I wanted to talk about this is kind of 56 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:01.120 this is kind of a main thing that I've been 57 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:03.759 interested in, not just as a golf coach for the 58 00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:06.080 last forty years I've been doing it, but even since 59 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:09.360 I was a very young child, I was always fascinated 60 00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:12.919 by the nature of consciousness, and I want to go 61 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:15.280 in I think that would be a good topic today 62 00:03:15.319 --> 00:03:18.800 because I think the big critique I have of traditional 63 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:24.319 mental game instruction in sports psychologies particular even just general 64 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:27.520 you know, Western psychotherapy, is it's too much based on 65 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:31.400 what I call Shuldhism, which is the story we tell 66 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:33.800 ourselves to get ourselves sort of what to get our 67 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:39.439 mind wrapped around, you know, the nature of improved psychological performance. 68 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:43.439 But the big missing link historically has been lack of 69 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:49.719 actual pragmatic execution. Yeah. Do that makes sense? Yeah? Yeah? 70 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:52.919 And you know the word should have could it right? Yeah? Yeah. 71 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.639 I mean everybody kind of knows. If anybody who's been 72 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:59.639 a golf mental game podcast junkie like you and me, 73 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:03.479 we're all kind of saying the same thing. You know. 74 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:06.080 The experts are pretty much in agreement on the major 75 00:04:06.199 --> 00:04:11.400 points about what the ideal psychological state is. Right. The 76 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:15.039 question is how do you go from a very anxious, nervous, 77 00:04:15.080 --> 00:04:20.519 stressed out, neurotic psychological state to a calm, emotionally stable, 78 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:24.800 confident state of mind. And that's the part where I 79 00:04:24.839 --> 00:04:29.639 think traditional approaches are sorely lacking because they don't understand 80 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:34.399 that the essential nature of consciousness and good for us, 81 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:36.759 there is a body of knowledge that's been around for 82 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:39.839 twenty five hundred years, which is the Buddhist tradition. The 83 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:45.399 Buddhists were the original, were the world's original psychotherapists, and 84 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:50.279 it's the entire Buddhist tradition when it comes to trying 85 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:53.000 to understand or explain the nature of the human mind, 86 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:56.759 is based on empirical observation. It's not based on theory, 87 00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:02.279 meaning Buddhist monks spend sixteen hours a day in the 88 00:05:02.360 --> 00:05:05.240 meditative state of mind, and when they're dreaming, a lot 89 00:05:05.319 --> 00:05:08.079 of them practice something in the West is called lucid dreaming. 90 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:10.959 They're meditating when they're dreaming. So these are people who 91 00:05:11.079 --> 00:05:17.120 spend the bulk of their day observing how the mind works. Right, 92 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:20.480 So we can learn a lot from that tradition, especially 93 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:21.920 the mindfulness aspect of it. 94 00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:29.839 You know, I'm distracted in the sense that you know, 95 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:34.920 the Buddhist monks don't play golf. That it's easier, I 96 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:37.920 have found for me. And this has been a tough 97 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:39.759 year for me for golf because I've not played as 98 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:42.399 much as I like to play, because we've just been 99 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:46.000 busy with family and travel and blah blah blah. And 100 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:50.319 so I have found for me that when things aren't 101 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:54.959 going well on the golf course. But let's put it 102 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:57.480 this way, when things are going well on the golf course, 103 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:03.399 it's very easy to get into a positive, flowing state. 104 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:09.759 But when you know, as the round progresses and you 105 00:06:09.959 --> 00:06:16.600 have an issue that becomes reoccurring, whether it be missing 106 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:20.720 three foot putts multiple times, whether it be chunking off 107 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:25.839 around the fringes of the green, which is my issue. 108 00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:27.120 And I work on it. 109 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:28.519 I work on it, and I work on it, and 110 00:06:28.519 --> 00:06:30.959 I feel really good and confident and positive, and I 111 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:34.399 go to the golf course and I hit it eight inches. 112 00:06:34.519 --> 00:06:36.879 I mean it's like I just chunk behind it. So 113 00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:41.439 when that happens multiple times, it's very difficult to calm 114 00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:46.720 yourself down, to get into a like, oh, just like, 115 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:50.399 look at the trees, appreciate where you are, feel grateful, 116 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:53.920 just breathe, I mean, all those things I do. 117 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:57.560 Yeah. Yeah, In fact, it actually makes it worse because 118 00:06:57.560 --> 00:06:59.720 now you have a set of behaviors you're supposed to 119 00:06:59.800 --> 00:07:03.839 be expressing right, and you're utterly failing to do all 120 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:07.519 that sports psychology recommended stuff. So that makes you feel 121 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:11.240 even worse. Yes, that's the essential dilemma from a Buddhists 122 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:14.519 point of view. To keep it real simple, a there's 123 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:18.600 a type of suffering that human beings experience, which is 124 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:22.839 sometimes called in the Buddhist tradition secondary suffering or reactive suffering, 125 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:27.040 which basically means when life presents a problem to you 126 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:30.319 in the external world, how do you react to that 127 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:36.160 external world situation can create unnecessary suffering sow is, there's 128 00:07:36.199 --> 00:07:39.199 sort of required or necessary suffering because of the nature 129 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:41.759 of human existence, right that we don't get our way 130 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:43.360 all the time, and we don't we don't have one 131 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:45.920 hundred percent freedom, and we don't have you know, we're 132 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:49.879 not God's We have limitations that the physical world presents 133 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:52.120 to us. But then there's how we react to that 134 00:07:52.199 --> 00:07:56.240 type of suffering. The original suffering become turns into reactive suffering, 135 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:59.439 and then that begs a question, well, is there anything 136 00:07:59.480 --> 00:08:03.000 you can do to lower that reactive suffering? And the 137 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:05.519 answer is absolutely, from a Buddhist point of view, absolutely 138 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:07.360 yes there is, which but it means you have to 139 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:09.759 do the work. You have to do some type of 140 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:14.279 psychological hygiene practice the way you do physical hygiene terms 141 00:08:14.279 --> 00:08:18.199 of working out or dental hygiene, brushing your teeth. I 142 00:08:18.279 --> 00:08:21.040 believe everybody should be doing at least one form of 143 00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:27.199 daily mindfulness practice just to maintain basic psychological health. Yeah, 144 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:28.040 pretty important. 145 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:33.000 I would think that reactive suffering is just a euphemism 146 00:08:33.080 --> 00:08:43.240 for golf. Yeah, what are you gonna do today? Hey babe, 147 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:45.000 I'll be back in a couple hours. I'm gonna go 148 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:46.360 do reactive suffering. 149 00:08:47.159 --> 00:08:51.159 Yeah, what tells that a lot of money to do it. 150 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:57.279 Yeah, and you choose to do this, yes, yes, as 151 00:08:57.320 --> 00:08:58.799 often as I possibly can. 152 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:03.000 So I've developed a system that's kind of a step 153 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:06.399 by step series of principles about the nature of consciousness. 154 00:09:06.440 --> 00:09:09.600 And when people understand that and start to do the work, 155 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:13.279 that's when I start to see a pretty rapid and 156 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:17.320 big increase in their psychological performance, whether it's on or 157 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:20.919 off the golf course. Yeah. And the first one is 158 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:23.639 the first step, or the first stage, is to understand 159 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:28.039 the nature of normal consciousness, meaning normal consciousness would be 160 00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:31.240 someone who's never done any type of mindfulness practice, right. 161 00:09:32.039 --> 00:09:36.600 And there's various aspects of normal consciousness, but I'm just 162 00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:38.279 going to go over a couple of the really big ones. 163 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:42.679 One is random chaos. In Buddhism, that's called monkey mind, 164 00:09:42.759 --> 00:09:46.240 meaning your mind is constantly churning. It doesn't like to 165 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:48.879 be at rest, it doesn't like to be stable. It 166 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:52.240 always wants to be moving at pretty high rates of 167 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:58.399 speak thoughts, entering, leaving judgments, conclusions. There's this constant churning mass. 168 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:03.240 It's sometimes described as a in Buddhist philosophy, right, like 169 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:05.799 a like a like a class three rapid river with 170 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:10.039 different abjects floating in the surface, and you're in the 171 00:10:10.120 --> 00:10:12.000 river and you don't know how to swim. This is 172 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:15.919 the basic depiction of sort of you know, baseline human suffering, 173 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:18.840 and you're trying to keep your head above water, and 174 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:21.080 what do you do to to not drown in the 175 00:10:21.159 --> 00:10:25.240 in the river of suffering and mental chaos? Right, And 176 00:10:25.320 --> 00:10:31.679 so the idea is, uh, there's a way to basically 177 00:10:32.120 --> 00:10:37.240 find a way to basically keep your head above water 178 00:10:37.879 --> 00:10:40.600 so you don't drown, and then eventually learn how to 179 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:43.120 swim a little bit and then eventually swim over to 180 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:45.399 the bank of the river, climb climb up on the 181 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:49.000 bank and sit and watch the river go by. That's 182 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:50.840 that would be more of a more of an advanced 183 00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:54.799 state of mindfulness practice. You got to start somewhere, and 184 00:10:54.840 --> 00:10:57.240 so that that type of practice in the Buddhist tradition 185 00:10:57.399 --> 00:11:01.360 is called samata or translating from power or censort to English, 186 00:11:01.399 --> 00:11:07.240 that means concentration or narrow focus. Yeah. Okay, So if 187 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:10.240 you think of if you think of awareness or consciousness, 188 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:13.159 which is often described not just Buddhist tradition, but most 189 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:17.840 major religions and systems of psychotherapy will will describe consciousness 190 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:21.440 as a beam of light. Yeah. And the beam of 191 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:24.679 light has three sizes or modes, which are a search 192 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:29.039 light super wide, yeah, and then a medium wide, and 193 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:31.519 then very narrow. So narrow would be like a like 194 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:34.519 a quarter inch diameter laser beam. Think of it like 195 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:37.080 that versus the big mind that super wide would be 196 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:39.440 like a search light. And so what you're doing in 197 00:11:39.559 --> 00:11:44.600 early stages and mindfulness practices, you switch on narrow mode 198 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:49.320 by focusing intensely on just one small thing, which we 199 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:52.600 call the focal point. And there could be any number 200 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:54.559 of things and golf, it could be the target picture, 201 00:11:54.600 --> 00:11:57.240 for example, or it could be the feeling of grip pressure. Yeah. 202 00:11:58.039 --> 00:12:01.240 In sittying meditation, it's usually feeling your belly move in 203 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:05.480 and out with your breath. Yeah. The exercise I start 204 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:08.399 all my students with is a real simple one called 205 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:12.120 candle flame concentration. So you when you're not stressed and 206 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:14.639 when you're not tired, you sit in a dimly lit room. 207 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:17.559 You light a candle, put it on your coffee table, 208 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:20.279 sit on the couch or the chair, set your phone 209 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:24.679 alarm for two minutes, and the goal is to simply 210 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:28.200 pay attention to the flickering candle. Flame without having any 211 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:32.080 internal psychological reaction to it, and without your mind wandering 212 00:12:32.120 --> 00:12:35.879 off going somewhere else, which you know sounds easy fread, 213 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:37.320 but it's really really difficult. 214 00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:39.600 God, God, it would be painful for me. 215 00:12:41.879 --> 00:12:44.879 Yeah, because again, the essential nature of the monkey mind 216 00:12:44.919 --> 00:12:46.840 is it doesn't like to stay on one thing. It 217 00:12:46.919 --> 00:12:49.519 likes to flip back and forth from one one focus 218 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:50.639 of attention to another. 219 00:12:57.559 --> 00:13:00.960 I am very familiar with monkey mind. I live it, 220 00:13:01.879 --> 00:13:05.879 and I'm very familiar with the term because it's very 221 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:11.039 hard for me to stay focused on anyone, especially you know, 222 00:13:11.080 --> 00:13:13.519 in a short period of time, an intense period of time. 223 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:19.679 Yeah. Another aspect of it is when you start to meditate, 224 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:21.960 not only do you realize you actually have a much 225 00:13:22.279 --> 00:13:25.759 Everybody experiences this, It's universal. Everybody who meditates for the 226 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:28.600 first week of doing it properly, by the end of 227 00:13:28.600 --> 00:13:31.200 the week they're like stunned at how out of control 228 00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:33.159 their mind is. So I call that your mind has 229 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:37.080 a mind of its own. It doesn't want to stay focused. Right. 230 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:41.600 But there's another aspect of normal human consciousness, which is 231 00:13:41.639 --> 00:13:45.759 that we have way less free will or choice than 232 00:13:45.799 --> 00:13:49.240 we think we do. In other words, again, there's an 233 00:13:49.320 --> 00:13:52.120 involunte even though we call it conscious mind, because what 234 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:55.320 we're talking about is amenable, it's accessible to consciousness, right, 235 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:58.399 So you can be aware of your thought patterns, for example. 236 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:01.399 But the fact that you can be aware of what's 237 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:04.759 going on in your conscious mind sort of mental space, 238 00:14:05.559 --> 00:14:08.559 doesn't mean that you have a high degree of control 239 00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:13.159 over it so very much. So we're human beings. Are 240 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:18.200 not too dissimilar to the famous Pavlovs dogs experiment where 241 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:21.080 the dogs were trained, through what's called operate conditioning, to 242 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:24.240 salivate when they hear a bell ring. Have we heard 243 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:26.919 of that? So there was real reactive creatures. We're not 244 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:30.519 primarily rational creatures, which is the big mistake of the 245 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:34.679 European Enlightenment philosophers who thought we were primarily rational. We're 246 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:40.360 primarily emotional creatures, and we're primarily storytelling or myth creating creatures. 247 00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:45.799 We're not primarily logical, irrational creatures. So that's the second 248 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:48.440 thing you realize when you do early stages of mindfulness 249 00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:51.320 practice that you're kind of like the dog. When the 250 00:14:51.320 --> 00:14:55.200 bell rings, you react. So when you triple bogie your 251 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:57.919 first hole and around the golf and you got about 252 00:14:57.960 --> 00:15:00.240 a one or two minute walk to the next tee. 253 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:05.360 That's your opportunity to start to start salivating, so to speak, 254 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:08.240 because you just messed up the first hole, right, So 255 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:10.600 now you start going to the reactive suffering where you 256 00:15:10.600 --> 00:15:14.399 beat yourself up. You have this intense conversation with yourself 257 00:15:14.440 --> 00:15:16.919 while you're walking to the second tee, right, and that 258 00:15:17.240 --> 00:15:19.720 all that does is make the likelihood of your second 259 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:22.559 of your key shot on the second hole being as 260 00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:24.879 bad as the first hole that you messed up. Right. 261 00:15:25.159 --> 00:15:27.080 Yeah, Well, for me, it's like when I when I 262 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:29.480 have that triple bogie on the front where you watching 263 00:15:29.559 --> 00:15:33.440 me play yesterday, It's like, Okay, that's out of my system. 264 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:36.399 Now let's move on. Well, that's the right way to 265 00:15:36.440 --> 00:15:39.120 frame it, correct, That's that's how a Buddhist monkly frame it. 266 00:15:39.159 --> 00:15:41.200 But most people don't do that. They go into what 267 00:15:41.240 --> 00:15:43.240 we call the ego drama and they feed it. 268 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:45.480 Right, it's like, oh, this is gonna be a really 269 00:15:45.559 --> 00:15:46.120 long day. 270 00:15:46.200 --> 00:15:47.919 Oh my god, I can't believe you know. 271 00:15:48.039 --> 00:15:49.960 It's like they think that that's going to dictate the 272 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:52.720 rest of the round. 273 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:54.759 You could burn you the next five hole. Nobody knows 274 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:57.679 what's going to happen. Everything. The nature of physical reality, 275 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:01.399 in fact, it's called the fourth dimension is time. We 276 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:04.440 live in a three dimensional universe spatially, and then time 277 00:16:04.519 --> 00:16:07.639 is the fourth and the essential nature of time is 278 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:10.919 this moment has never happened before, it will never happen 279 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:15.519 in the future. The present moment is completely unique and 280 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:18.679 at the level of human psychology, the past has no 281 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:21.879 influence over your ability to perform this shot. 282 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:24.759 Well, yeah, I was telling somebody that this week I 283 00:16:24.840 --> 00:16:27.159 was playing and he hit a ball left and he goes, 284 00:16:27.399 --> 00:16:29.759 I do that every time on this whole I'm like, 285 00:16:29.879 --> 00:16:33.440 oh boy, do we have to talk like it has 286 00:16:33.559 --> 00:16:36.960 nothing to do with this shot? Your history has nothing 287 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:38.559 to do with your next shot. 288 00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:42.000 Yeah, we call that the myth of psychological momentum. The 289 00:16:42.039 --> 00:16:45.279 physical momentum is real the level of the body, clearly, 290 00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:47.960 the past influence is the present. Be injured yourself, like 291 00:16:48.519 --> 00:16:50.879 I always use. Tony Finow a few years ago to Augusta, 292 00:16:50.919 --> 00:16:53.639 he sprained his ankle in the Wednesday Part three contests. 293 00:16:53.879 --> 00:16:55.759 Somehow he was still able to play and he actually 294 00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:58.159 made the cut, but obviously he didn't play as well 295 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:00.960 as he could have. So past loses the body, but 296 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:04.720 it doesn't influence the mind ironically, Fred, unless you believe 297 00:17:04.759 --> 00:17:07.039 it does due to the power of what we call 298 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:10.680 in psychotherapy the as if principle, or the power of belief. 299 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:15.039 So if you believe the past has some external, actual, 300 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:19.440 objective force that's affecting you your ability to perform mentally now, 301 00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:25.000 then ironically it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Yeah, but 302 00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:30.079 objectively it doesn't have an influence at all. And yeah, 303 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:32.119 so those first two steps to read. By the way, 304 00:17:32.119 --> 00:17:34.640 did you know that close to ninety five percent of 305 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:38.160 people who learn at least classical beginner level Buddhist meditation 306 00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:40.400 quit by the end of thirty days. They don't stay 307 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:42.960 with it. It has a worse track record than weight 308 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:43.920 loss programs. 309 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:46.640 Wow, from what meditation does. 310 00:17:47.160 --> 00:17:50.279 Yeah, most people will not get to most average people 311 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:52.079 will not even make it to thirty days. But the 312 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:55.920 problem is you don't get the benefit. Generally speaking, you 313 00:17:55.960 --> 00:17:59.039 get almost no benefit until you reach the thirty day mark. 314 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:03.160 Well then then doesn't that make sense and why people 315 00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:06.119 believe it's like working for me? 316 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:10.319 Yeah? Well no, only that. Again, it's painful to realize 317 00:18:10.440 --> 00:18:13.000 I'm more like a dog reacting to a bell that 318 00:18:13.160 --> 00:18:16.440 tinkling more reactive than I thought I was. I have 319 00:18:16.680 --> 00:18:19.880 less free will, less personal autonomy than I used to think, 320 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:23.559 and my mind is like, it's like, you know, it's 321 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:25.880 like the monkey mind thing. I got this out of 322 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:28.519 control mind. And so it's painful to have those two 323 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:32.240 insights about the nature of normal consciousness. But it's also 324 00:18:32.279 --> 00:18:34.799 a mistake, obviously in my view, to quit. I think 325 00:18:34.839 --> 00:18:36.559 if you could stick it out and get through the 326 00:18:36.599 --> 00:18:40.200 beginning of the second month, particularly if you're doing sitting meditation, 327 00:18:40.279 --> 00:18:43.640 which is designed to be insanely boring on purpose, if 328 00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:45.839 you can get over that first thirty days, that's when 329 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:48.400 the magic starts to happen. You get the benefits. Yeah, 330 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:52.200 and again the main benefit is you start to create 331 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:56.839 much more mental clarity and much more emotional stability, so 332 00:18:56.920 --> 00:19:01.680 less negativity, less negative emotions, more positive emotions, less stress. 333 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:05.440 You become less reactive to stressful situations, and you become 334 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:08.680 much better at the ability to focus your attention. And 335 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:10.640 that's when the goods things start to happen. In terms 336 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:12.319 of golf performance. 337 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:20.160 Well, and I see that personally. I consider golf and 338 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:24.559 my swimming, which is my exercise besides walking. Golf courses 339 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:27.559 is a moving, moving, meditation. 340 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:31.279 M yeah, that's right, me too, That's what I do. 341 00:19:31.319 --> 00:19:34.119 And yeah, and to me, that's the preference I can. 342 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:39.079 I can move and focus and do that versus just 343 00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:42.039 sitting and staring at a candle right. 344 00:19:42.200 --> 00:19:45.119 Yeah, yeah, Well candle flame is actually easier than sitting 345 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:47.559 because the reason why the candle flame is easier for 346 00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:51.119 people is because it's always it's it never flickers the 347 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:53.880 same way. There's a newness, there's a novelty to the 348 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:58.279 movement of the candle flame, right yeah, yeah, meditation, And 349 00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:01.440 once you start to focus the sensations coming from your 350 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:03.559 belly as it moves in and out with your breath, 351 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:06.519 after you kind of lock in on it, maybe five 352 00:20:06.599 --> 00:20:09.519 or six seconds later, you suddenly realize, well, this is 353 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:13.359 the same sensation pretty much every time. It's not fundamentally different, 354 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:16.599 and your mind goes, this is insanely boring. I'm going 355 00:20:16.680 --> 00:20:18.799 to go I'm going to leave my belly and go 356 00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:21.079 up into my head space where the thoughts stream is 357 00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:25.119 and entertain myself by thinking about something pleasant that happened 358 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:28.759 yesterday or that might happen a week from now. And 359 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:31.160 the problem with that is then you then you start daydreaming, 360 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:33.160 you get lost in the thoughsterream, You get lost in 361 00:20:33.160 --> 00:20:35.119 your thoughts, and now you're doing the opposite of what 362 00:20:35.160 --> 00:20:38.839 you should be doing when you're meditating, right, You're you're 363 00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:41.440 feeding the thoughtstream. You're feeding the monkey might when you 364 00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:43.359 do that. So the whole point of it is to 365 00:20:43.400 --> 00:20:46.319 get out of your head, get out of your headspace, 366 00:20:46.359 --> 00:20:49.519 and into your physical body by focusing on the sensations 367 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:55.240 coming from your body when you're inhaling and exhaling. Right, 368 00:20:55.319 --> 00:20:58.960 But how to learning how to accept boredom and overcoming it, 369 00:20:59.079 --> 00:21:02.160 seeing boredom as it interesting challenge that should be overcome 370 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:05.519 and not run away from. You know, this constant need 371 00:21:05.559 --> 00:21:09.680 to entertain ourselves is in itself a form of neurosis. Right, 372 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:15.599 There's never been a more entertainment entertainment industrial complex society 373 00:21:16.359 --> 00:21:19.640 than modern America in the twenty first century. We've we've 374 00:21:19.640 --> 00:21:21.920 got it. We've got a movie theater in our back pocket, 375 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:25.839 your phone. We can constantly, we can constantly distract ourselves 376 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:29.519 using the internet, right, yeah, Yeah. 377 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:32.680 And And the other thing that I find absolutely fascinating, 378 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.920 since we're very good at bouncing all over the place 379 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:38.960 on these conversations, the thing that I find really fascinating 380 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:45.880 is that because of that library movie theater in your 381 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:51.839 back pocket. Younger generation, I've noticed people I interact with 382 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:59.599 don't value the elder's experience and wisdom that we've gathered 383 00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:04.960 over decades of life. Yeah, because they're like, well, I 384 00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:07.880 don't need to ask you. I'll just ask Google, or 385 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:10.160 I'll go on Chad GPT and have a conversation and 386 00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:14.359 get all the wisdom of the world ever recorded in 387 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:15.599 my answer. 388 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:16.279 I won't. 389 00:22:16.359 --> 00:22:18.559 I don't need your your thoughts anymore. 390 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:22.720 Yeah, No, that's a bit. It's a problem socially, it's 391 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:24.960 a big cultural and social problem. I think we're going 392 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:27.599 to start to see I think it's already starting to happen. 393 00:22:27.640 --> 00:22:29.680 We're starting to see a little bit of a movement 394 00:22:30.680 --> 00:22:35.279 away from the more toxic aspects of the Internet. Yeah. 395 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:38.440 I think it's going to keep growing with with AI 396 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:41.039 coming on strong. But we're gonna see more and more 397 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:43.759 of a reaction to I hope, maybe not full on 398 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:48.160 ludite like I've been most you know, but maybe semi ludite. 399 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:49.880 We'll see, we'll see how it goes. 400 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:00.480 Okay, Jim, you allow me always to get to tracted 401 00:23:00.599 --> 00:23:04.880