BE HERE NOW

 Another excerpt from THE COMPETITIVE BUDDHA . BE HERE NOW

 For today’s athlete to mourn the past is to perseverate on a mistake, a missed shot, a faulty defensive move. To worry about the future is to perseverate on the possible outcome, results and statistics. Living in the present moment is to intentionally dwell in what is happening now...what are you doing, how are you being and what is happening all around you?

To be the best Buddha athlete, you must learn to live in the present. In his classic book, THE WAY OF ZEN, Alan Watts refers to what Western mystics call the Eternal Now, the state of this one moment. This means to park your attention on to what’s going on without focusing on past regrets or future fears. According to Watts, “I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.”

What I have recently learned, and this may help you, too, is if I am thinking of the future, I come back to the present, by reminding myself that I am thinking, right now in the present, about the past and future and simply acknowledge that fact; then I continue to follow what’s going on now. It might sound like this: “Oh, I’m thinking of the future in this present moment. What else am I doing now?What can I think about now that will keep me in this precious moment?”

This is what a Tiger Woods or a Steph Curry or a Megan Rapinoe can do so well. And like these icons, we all can come back to the “now.” Kobe was a true Buddha in his ability to be present most of the time on the court.

A competitive Buddha approach is one that knows in all physical activity you must be focused in the here and now to experience mastery. What we all need to know is that being in the now is pure joy and satisfaction. Alan Watts points out that you don’t dance to get to the other side of the floor; you don’t sing to get to the end of the song. Neither should you work out, train, run, swim, bike, or do your job just to get it done. Focus on the joy of the process – minute by minute, day by day. Again, Kobe was brilliant at this, as he was with so many of these values. He didn’t play to get to the end of the game or season.

To help you focus like this, direct your attention to all the wonderful things going on inside you as you play. Feel the blood flow through the arterial pathways. Remind yourself of all the little things you must do now. Focus your eyes only on what you are doing: the ball, stick, field, weights, the book you are writing. Choose a good visual target. Fill your ears with words of encouragement and positive expressions. If possible, listen to music that facilitates concentration in the moment. Or think about the runner who took all the numbers and hands from the face of his watch and wrote one word: now! Wow! He had the correct time, every second of every day. Try to season your life as if you were to live forever, yet act as if this is your last day on earth. Carpe diem: seize the day. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., feel “the fierce urgency of now.”

By the way, I must tell you that as I wrote this book, every minute of the journey includes the music of R. Carlos Nakai playing on my Spotify play-list. It puts me into the total creative, relaxed present state.