We were walking towards the ball on the fairway when my Pro stopped, pointed to the ground and said, “That’s a divot.” I saw the turf cut of the ground and responded, “That’s bad. Isn’t it?” “No,” he said and explained the several reasons that made it good. He didn’t realise it but I had just passed a threshold. Before that, I believed that taking a divot was bad and that it would hurt my arm to hit the ground. That habit of belief and fearful thought had held me back in my game and I didn’t even know it.
That awareness changed a lot within me and the way I played. It was a new beginning in my learning journey. It wasn’t really about a divot but the impact of the wrong assumption which fed the fear that became an obstacle to my rapid progress. A few days later, we were all pleasantly surprised when I scored a birdie (a stroke less than the declared par of the hole). For a baby golfer, that was a giant leap worthy of celebration.
I wondered how often we act, make decisions or live our lives based on non-factual assumptions. This could impede our progress, make us travel in the wrong direction, ruin our relationships, make us bear useless energy draining grudges, live in fear, with anger or bitterness, etc. What an insane waste of invaluable time and resources!! All you need to do is to simply increase your question frequency. Ask questions – what am I assuming? What are the facts? What are the possibilities here? Take back your sanity! You will then score a birdie in the game of life.
“We create our success or failure on the course, primarily by our thoughts.” ~ Gary Player
© Dr. Mirian Kene, 2023
MD, @unleashacademyua
Ps. You can follow me on all social media platforms @drmiriankene