I used to make a golf swing that was a really powerful effort! Lol! Now I am swinging with effortless power and enjoying the game of golf more than ever!

What did I do to get from expending untold energy to what is for me now an effortless pleasure?

Since arriving home from the Quest for Maleness Workshop, I am determined to stay more PRESENT in my life and to be more creative in how I RELATE to the people and things that constitute my life. One technique I am experimenting with is a kind of “mantra” that I’m focusing on and projecting to those around me.

It is simply the message “I wish you happiness”. Doing this helps me maintain a focus on the positive, and also, if I falter, and begin to string together a series of unfounded assumptions and conclusions about people and situations around me, I can more easily shift the focus back to the positive.

I have found that at times when I can sustain this message of good will and happiness, things can become very exciting and ripe with potential for new experiences and encounters. At the same time if I become the target of someone’s wrath and bad temper in traffic, and they are showing me the middle finger, it is my challenge to stay focused on the positive or shift the focus to the positive.

All in all, I feel this process is helping me continually to RE-SPECT myself, monitor my emotions and feelings, and to stay in closer touch with what it is I really want for myself.

Also, in regards to POWER being in the little things I would like to share my findings during a recent practice session at the golf course.

It was just before sunset so it was a short session where I perform my favorite drill. It’s called “the walk through drill”.

I set up 8 or 9 plastic balls in a line with about 12 inches between each ball. Then, standing a few feet back from the first ball in line, I step forward with the right foot (being right handed) as I begin taking the club back. As I then take a step with the left foot I swing through and strike the first ball.

As I keep walking and swinging an amazing phenomenon takes place; instead of me swinging the club it is as though the club is now swinging me!!

There is no place for thought and rationalising during this drill; only for allowing and experiencing the sensation of flowing with a natural process.

Having done this and similar drills for years, and with the perspectives I’ve gained from Institute for the Study of Man courses and Toltec studies, I can now see how these forays into the unknown have slowly but surely made me more comfortable with the trappings of power in golf and resulted in my being able to hit the ball longer and more accurately than I ever have!

Rather than making a swing that is a powerful effort, I am now swinging with effortless power… and enjoying the game of golf more than ever. 🙂

John Templeton
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