Do You Focus on the Positive, or the Negative?

I read Joyce Schwarz’s book titled The Vision Board: The Secret to an Extraordinary Life over the last few days. I found it long on fluff and short on substance. The book seemed to include a lot of filler that I simply skimmed past.

In fairness, I’ve used visioning and vision boards for a while now, and so much of this book was review. For those that are entirely new to vision boards, perhaps this book would be of more interest.

I did find one invaluable quote, at the bottom of page 139. “Too many of us latch on to the drama of what’s wrong versus celebrating what’s right in our life story as it unfolds.” I believe this is both true and very revealing.

I also worked through a few golf magazines that had piled up beside my nightstand of late. I shall quote an entire paragraph from the Summer 2009 Ontario Golf, page 12, the article titled Golf psychology 101.

From tour players to amateur golfers, we rarely use our mind and the power of our brains to their capacity. One of the things I overstate to the players I coach of various playing abilities is that you reinforce what you react to. What we mentally acknowledge after every shot is like a Polaroid in our memory. To hit a golf ball straight with pure contact is a complex sequence of events that includes a high degree of mathematics. But for whatever reason, people generally react to the bad shots with much more emotional attachment than they do to the good ones. Therein lies the reason we hit more bad ones than good ones: We imprint the bad ones because our reaction is so dramatic and full of emotion. And then when we hit a good shot, there is a sense of entitlement – as though we are supposed to hit a five-wood to five feet, which mathematically is highly improbable. So when you hit a good shot, acknowledge it. And when you hit a bad shot, pay no attention to it. It’s just an understandable human mistake. –Sean Foley, Director of Instruction, Core Golf Academy

As you can see, both Sean Foley and Joyce Schwarz are hammering home the same point. Don’t focus on what’s (gone) wrong. Focus on what’s (gone) right, wonderfully right. Focus on what brings you joy and happiness. Imprint that upon your memory and mind!

This all, of course, begs the question, whilst you play golf, and live life, do you focus on the negative, or the positive? Which do you acknowledge and celebrate?