Zen Golf is authored by Dr. Joe Parent, an expert in Performance Psychology and Applied Mindfulness. He works with athletes, actors, artists, and executives to improve their performance through Values-Based Mindfulness.
Because this book has ‘Golf’ in its name, it waited in my library to be opened for quite some time. When I started the first chapter, I realized with surprise that it is not only a book to teach golf! Yes, this book talks a lot about golf but often uses golf as a model to actually show us some tricks for better performance. If you are a golfer, it is an amazing book. If you are not, still a great book to dive into the psychology of any of your performances.
I want to paraphrase a few quotes I loved from Zen Golf. One may find these cheesy without reading the context; one may also find them given. But in my experience, we are often very oblivious of the very obvious. Ain’t we?
- These things will come and go: When you are in unbearable situations, remember that ‘these things will come and go’. You have had difficulties before, you did overcome them, and you will continue to do the same in the future. The same goes for good times in life as well. Good or bad times will come and eventually, go.
- The transition from asking yourself ‘what is WRONG with me?’ towards ‘what is RIGHT with me’ will shift our confidence and performance.
- Fighting with thoughts is counterproductive. Stop fighting. Let them take their course while you observe without judging them.
- We feel bad about something, then we feel bad about feeling bad, and the vicious cycle goes on. Don’t give unimportant things more attention than they deserve.
- When you think about your unsatisfactory performance, use Non-judgemental awareness in your action to do better next time.
- Not only does our mind send messages to our body, but our body also sends messages to our mind. An upright confident posture with the full breath, humming or whistling, sends positivity to our mind.
- And finally, emotions cloud awareness!
By the way, you can download Zen Golf free if you have Audible.