“As Sure As… Yet For You It Doesn’t Exist”
“As sure as water runs down hill” Anonymous
I had a new student in class last night. I’m not really sure how old she is and the best I can do is to place her somewhere between 50 and 60. She’s in incredibly good shape and thinks she has very limited coordination. She even tried to prove it to me by confusing herself a couple of times.
I’ve never met anyone who could do tai chi well right out of the gate. I was pretty bad myself when I started, and I think of myself as being pretty coordinated. I taught her a couple of moves and broke them down to their individual parts; she actually did them quite well. I think she is more coordinated than most people but for some reason she honestly believes she isn’t.
Does this describe you? I think it describes each of us to some degree. When we really believe something all we look for are things that confirm our beliefs. Like this woman who thinks she’s uncoordinated, so she completely ignored the things she did very well. We ignore whatever doesn’t fit our beliefs. It’s absolutely amazing when you actually see someone do this so obviously.
It was a bit like watching a hypnotist’s show. You know the kind of show where people are given suggestions to do the most outlandish things and also to think it’s perfectly normal. Like to forget the number 4: “For you the number 4 does not exist and when counting it simply does not factor into your consciousness.” Then the hypnotist counts 5 chairs on the stage and the person agrees, but when they count they get 6. Yet they can’t figure out why.
What are you good at? What are you missing?
Bye for now,
John
P.S. I found this beautiful waterfall picture on Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/emmedibi/244716376/
Click on "Express yourself" below to leave your comment. (Comments are great!)
The “Sphere: Related Content” button looks for similar stories on the internet. “Tell a Friend” lets you bookmark this post or email it to a friend without having to leave the page. “Share and Enjoy” let’s you bookmark this post on lots of different sites or even print it out. I want you to tell others about this site so share away… please!
Express yourself, click here to leave a comment (4 comments, add yours)
Be notified of new comments for this post via RSS
4 People have left comments on this post
Nov 20, 2008 - 01:11:50Love it John. Great article and food for thought. It reminds me of times when I was considering buying a new vehicle and once I determined a make and model, all of a sudden, they were everywhere I looked. Just days prior, I didn’t even see them… then…poof…they were everywhere.
It’s amazing how the mind works.
You truly do get more of what you focus on.
Mel in Colorado
Mel,
I know. There everywhere, there everywhere!
John
Hi, I can
Hi Debby, what can you?