I took up the sport of tennis late in life. I hired a coach and took lessons every week. We got to know each other over the weeks, and he turned out to have as much life wisdom as tennis skills.
One morning we were hitting the ball back and forth. I missed a shot that I thought I should have made. I became angry and swore under my breath.
He stopped play and walked up to the net. He waved his hand, calling me to the net. As I approached the net, he just looked at his racquet; I could not get a read on what was coming. I thought a tip on my strokes or maybe my footwork.
Instead, he looked up and said, “Okay, that is enough of that s#@t. If you are going to get that upset about missing a shot, then you are going to demonstrate joy and happiness when you make a shot. So, either take everything in stride or balance the angry demonstrations with jumps of joy. And trust me, you don’t have enough energy to swear when you miss a shot and celebrate when you make a shot. So, you better learn to deal with your negatives.”
Then he just turned and walked back to the baseline.
Wow, 56 years old, and I am getting a pointer on emotional balance from a tennis coach.
And what a wonderful moment. He had hit on something I did all the time. I could not balance the negatives. They were 10 or 20 times the weight of any positives.
I could change my opinion of my week, my work, and myself with one mistake, one missed step. I would respond in anger and irritation way out of proportion to the event.
I could have a great week, and then one thing goes wrong on Friday afternoon, and the whole week is a disaster. One ‘sad face’ would ruin a series of ‘happy faces.’
I had no balance.
It was in my sports life that I learned emotional balance and many other things. I have learned to practice these principles in all my affairs and have learned a lot while playing tennis.
Related posts
From Frank Amos and his report to John Rockefeller in 1938
Forgiveness: A Spiritual Virtue and Practical Tool
