Our
Mission:
To help people
live happy, successful lives; to harness their natural power and live
to their full potential.
"The secret
to Momentum in life can be found in the word Momentum.... you create it
Moment by Moment." ----- Doug Firebaugh
YOUR MOMENTUM
It was April of
1986 and my wife Kisch and I were returning from a holiday in Mexico
just in time for my mother-in-law Anna's birthday. Her special day is
always celebrated with a family party on the Sunday of the closest
weekend, which happens to coincide with the final round of the Masters
Golf Tournament, a major tournament rich in tradition.
Two of my brothers-in-law and I were avid golfers at the time and so
we, along with Anna and other family members, would sit around the TV
for part of the afternoon watching the action and rooting for our
favourite player (thanks for humoring us Mom). In a sense it was our
own tradition.
If you're a golf fan I'm sure you can relate. If not, I apologize, but
please stay with me because this is actually going somewhere.
On this particular day Kisch's brother picked us up from the airport
and brought us back to Mom and Dad's home where the rest of the family
had already gathered, and we arrived just in time for the final 9
holes. It was the most emotional and exciting finish of any tournament
I've seen.
At age 46 and in the twilight of his career, Jack Nicklaus (since
retired but still currently holder of the record for most Major
Tournament wins) hadn't won a major in almost 6 years. Although playing
well, nearing the half way mark of the final round he trailed the
leader by 5 or 6 strokes and didn't appear to have a legitimate chance
to win.
But then the magic began. He made birdie putts on three consecutive
holes regaining old confidence with each stroke. Sensing a miracle in
the making, the crowds lining the fairways became caught up in the
excitement. Emotions ran high as Jack gained momentum hitting one
incredible shot after another, closing out in a frenzy of birdie,
eagle, birdie, par to win his sixth Masters Tournament, a feat never
accomplished before or since.
Interestingly, Seve Ballesteros, the leader when Jack began his charge,
hit one bad shot on the 15th hole that shifted his momentum completely
the other way and he finished in fourth place.
Two significant momentum swings going in opposite directions, what an
amazing thing to witness!
The Masters, as with other Professional Golf Association tournaments,
consists of 4 rounds of 18 holes each over 4 consecutive days. I
mention this here only because for three and a half days of play Jack
Nicklaus was pretty good, but then one shot at a time he gained
momentum, turned the tide in his favour, and demonstrated again his
previous greatness.
When we think of momentum we often think of sports because in that
world it is so obviously evident. One big play or mistake by either
side can create a shift that completely changes the flow of the game.
Momentum creates confidence, and confidence feeds momentum.
What is often not evident however is that momentum is also and always
at play in each and every area of our lives. When 'mo' is on our side
life is great and everything seems to go our way, but when it is
against us life is a struggle.
One obvious example of momentum in everyday life is 'depression', a
condition that is running rampant in our society these days. Depression
is actually 'thought momentum' going in the wrong direction, and it
typically stems from a few thoughts of a negative nature, perhaps
triggered by some undesirable experience, that were not reigned in and
turned around while still manageable enough to handle.
By allowing such thoughts to hang out in our mind rather than
immediately replacing them with ones that feel better (yes, although
often hard to do it really is our choice) they become more and more
entrenched and increasingly difficult to control, like trying to switch
a speeding runaway train onto a different track.
There is a Mental Law that accounts for this called the Law of
Concentration, and studies in recent years dealing with the workings of
the brain, specifically neurotransmitters and neural pathways, help
explain how it all works.
I won't go into detail here but scientific studies have shown that
thoughts travel along neural pathways in the brain from one
neurotransmitter (a sending and receiving portal) to another and the
more often a thought travels this pathway the easier the path is to
follow.
To help explain, imagine crossing a large field filled with brambles,
low lying brush and long grass. On your first trip the going is slow
because you have to push aside and stomp down whatever is in your way,
but each subsequent crossing gets easier as the pathway becomes more
defined and trodden down. Each time you cross the field you will likely
choose to follow that path rather than carve out a new one requiring
far more time and effort.
Thoughts left to find their own way are much the same. As with people,
they tend to follow the path of least resistance, and repeated thoughts
soon become thought patterns or habits, and thought habits not only
define one's character but also inevitably lead to real life results
consistent with their nature.
The person experiencing these results often has no idea what actually
caused them and so begins to think of him or herself as being hard done
by, a victim of life and circumstances so to speak, not realizing that
they themselves actually played a significant role in the process. They
come to believe that they have little or no ability to do anything
about all of the unpleasant things coming into their experience ... not
a very empowering place to be.
Sadly, many don't understand that humans have the unique ability to
change from one thought to another at any time. Although certainly more
challenging we can choose to carve out a new path across the field that
will take us to a more desirable destination.
We can do this by deliberately choosing thoughts that feel better, even
just a little better, than those that are dragging us down, and then
from that place choosing new thoughts again that feel better yet.
Little by little, one step at a time, we can turn our thought momentum
completely around, something Jack Nicklaus understood well.
Using sports as an analogy again, you may have noticed that whenever
possible the coach of a team experiencing negative momentum will call a
'time out' so the players can pause for a moment to regroup and get
back to doing things correctly. Great golfers accomplish much the same
thing by creating a pre-shot routine that causes them to bring their
full attention to only the shot at hand.
In dealing with our own negative momentum we can do something similar
by focusing on one positive activity that we can engage in right now,
or by becoming aware of and appreciating the good things presently in
our life (there is always something). We can use our
imagination to visualize 'more preferred' circumstances than those we
are presently unhappy with and we can deliberately choose thoughts,
words and actions that are supportive of and consistent with achieving
that.
Instead of focusing in each moment on everything that's wrong with the
people and circumstances in our world we can search for the good in
them. We will always find whatever we're looking for, the question is
what would we like that to be?
We are each, consciously or otherwise, creating momentum that is taking
us somewhere. If you evaluate your own life at this moment, where is your
momentum taking you? Is it where you want to go?
If yes, keep feeding it with the thoughts, words and actions that
created it.
If no, that's okay. There's still plenty of time left in the game to
choose differently and begin building momentum that can carry you in a
whole new direction.
To your success,
Reg Neufeld
"Getting
momentum going is the most difficult part of the job, and often taking
the first step is enough to prompt you to make the best of your day."
----- Robert J. McKain
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Growing Into Success Training
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