Within the book Zen Golf the three types of mind and their roles are broken down for us to examine in relation to making a golf shot. However as we have seen in this series we can learn a lot about life in general via the game of golf, through our reaction and approach to the game.
Whether you play golf or not, once you look into the philosophies of the sport, it is easy to see how they have a direct relationship to how best to live your life.
In this article we are going to explore how the three types of mind that exist within the human brain, determine your actions, how you can recognise which one is in control at any one moment, and how you can use that to your advantage.
The thinking mind is the part of your brain that is involved in analysing and planning, thus it can sometimes be known as the analytical or planning mind.
Whatever it is called it has a very specific role in your thinking.
When approaching a golf shot it is the one that tells you which particular club you need to use to hit the ball, how far the ball will likely travel, and how it will behave after you hit it.
The strength of the thinking mind is that it can look at several variables and see how they interact with each other.
Outside of golf we use the thinking mind for what can best be described as big picture thinking. So when you are planning a trip, or just about to start a project, or preparing for a meeting or an interview. These are times when you are using your thinking mind.
The weakness of the thinking mind is that it cannot be called upon to make quick instinctive decisions. If somebody throws you a ball from a short distance away, you do not stop to think about its trajectory and speed, you simply attempt to catch or dodge it.
For that you use:
The intuitive mind works on a much more base level than the thinking mind, in that it is wired into your reaction time and works using a different system, one that is built for speed rather than analysis.
The intuitive mind works using imagery. However when I say imagery, I don't just mean pictures, although they play a big part, we are talking about everything that goes into creating a mental image.
Sound, smell, touch are all part of mental images we use to define various situations. Whether it is the smell of your mother's cooking, or the sound of the song you first kissed to, or the feeling of a particular garment on your skin; they all go to create a mental image.
Smell and sound can take you back, and when they do you tend to remember how you felt at the time. However if I interrupted you whilst you were having one of these evocative memories and asked you to explain in detail how it made you feel, you would struggle to put those feelings into words. This is because the imagery is not only special to you, but it is triggering nonverbal thoughts, emotions and reactions.
In golf and sport in general we use the intuitive mind to carry out the task in the heat of the moment. Its strength is it is very quick and can react instantly to situations.
The weakness of the intuitive mind is that it cannot direct action, it needs to take instruction from the thinking mind.
We can see this manifest itself when we are driving, riding a bike, or doing something else that we have learned well to do. Even though each journey is subtly different, we can get from one place to another without really 'thinking' about it.
This part of your mind is the part that stops your ego just running away with itself. It is the part of your mind that keeps you rushing in to a situation and perhaps getting yourself seriously injured or killed.
Whilst your thinking mind and intuitive mind have planned and shown you how you can jump that gorge on a skateboard. Your critical mind reminds you of the consequences if you fail.
Its strength is that it can keep you alive, its weakness is that it is hard to control and can be too critical of your actions.
Zen Golf tells us that in order to be in harmony with the three types of mind we possess, we need to pay attention to when they are in action.
First we approach a shot (a task) with an open mind, doing the best we can to see the big picture. We look at the landscape before we approach our ball and use our thinking mind to assess the lay of the land and how the ball may react after we hit it.
This is where we decide what club we are going to use and what route to take our ball down.
Then we need to listen to the critical mind, as it will make us aware of our limitations. If we have planned to land the ball 250 yards away, but we don't have the game to do that, it will gently remind us of that fact.
Together the thinking and critical mind can come up with a plan to help us reach the goal we are aiming for.
Then lastly we must trust the intuitive mind to take the instructions given it, and to simply go for it.
We do this by giving it a mental image of the shot we have just planned. We show it the ball flying through the air and landing in the position we have chosen, and then bouncing and rolling towards our target.
At this point we must simply trust that we have planned correctly, and not get in our own way by suddenly trying to plan the shot as we are taking it, or criticise our approach just as we start our golf swing.
These instructions can be directly transposed to any difficult task you have ahead of you and can be summarised like so:
Plan.
Critique.
Trust.
In the near future we will look at other ways in which to tightly control which facet of your mind you are using, for now though, simply remember those three instructions and use them to maximise your potential.
ARE YOU AWARE OF HOW THE THREE TYPES OF YOUR MIND CONTROL WHAT YOU DO? WHICH ONE OF THEM DO YOU FEEL YOU USE THE MOST? ARE YOU PRONE TO OVER ANALYSE, OTHER CRITICISE OR TO ALWAYS ACT ON YOUR INSTINCTS WITHOUT THINKING FIRST?
AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
Attaining Wisdom Through Golf series:
Attaining Wisdom Through Golf - Becoming The Fourth Cup
Attaining Wisdom Through Golf - Don't Think Of A Monkey: Overcoming Your Fears
Attaining Wisdom Through Golf - How Big Is Your Mind?
Attaining Wisdom Through Golf - Cutting Out The Anyways
Attaining Wisdom Through Golf - Body Fake It Till You Mentally Make It
Attaining Wisdom Through Golf - Be Your Own Best Friend
Attaining Wisdom Through Golf - Learning Perfection
Attaining Wisdom Through Golf - Getting The Cat Into The Box
Title image: Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash
