Week 20: The Antidote to Fear

In Week 20 and Week 21 there is a measurable requirement to make two masterminding contributions in the “5 Tools for Expanding” tab in the online Master Key Alliance. Basically, everyone is answering the same question:

“How can we use fear, guilt, anger hurt feelings and unworthiness as tools to expand our comfort zone?”

Presumably, as it is human nature to have two reactions, fight or flight, we all would like to expand our comfort zone, so that we have the ability to fight and decrease and then eliminate our non-rational, automated response to flee, notwithstanding the strategic sense of flight if we are about to enter a hornet’s nest under prepared and under resourced.

Our comfort zone is made up by the habitual combinations of pain and pleasure through our past thinking and actions that create the circumstances in any NOW moment.

In the Week 19 Lesson we are told that:

“Fear is a powerful form of thought. It paralyses the nerve centers, thus affecting the circulation of the blood. This in turn paralyses the muscular system, so that fear affects the entire being, body, brain and nerve, physical, mental and muscular.”

In Week 3: Giving up Being Right, I wrote: “I’ve been frozen, scared and ashamed of myself for what I think others can do easily. This is an internal struggle that I have not been dealing with.” I was frozen with fear.

My thoughts were referring to my efforts to change hands and play table tennis left-handed, however I never shared my Definiteness of Purpose goal.

“At the 2019 Australian Table Tennis National Championships I jump with joy as I win the last game of the final and become the Over  65 National Champion.”

That was a big ask, way back in October, 2018 and it was made even bigger by having a body out of condition, with eyesight issues, sweating, tight and twisted muscles and blah, blah, blah… And, just to top it off, I had a left knee problem. A meniscus that was torn 7 years ago, where I was offered an operation and was too scared to say, “Thank you. Let’s do that.”

For the last few weeks, the pain and restriction before and after playing, became more of a concern. Putting my leg up didn’t do the trick anymore. The ability to concentrate and my enthusiasm to practise waned and my There’s no sense in continuing to pay John, my coach, for four sessions a week, if I can’t move laterally, can’t change direction quickly, can’t adjust for subtle changes in speed, bounce and spin, etc…

So, I posed the question, “What to do?” and my Future Self, in Master Key Master Mind Alliance terminology, answered. “See David.”  David is an Applied Kinesiologist and Chiropractor. During this week’s webinar I made four appointments with the receptionist for this week. No idea whether that is a ‘blue’ trait.

I had my first adjustments yesterday. David found that my left knee was still twisted after being damaged in a basketball game seven years ago. He made a couple of adjustments to align the knee and then had a go to free up the left quadricep which has been compensating all this time.

Here’s what happened last night.

I turned up for table tennis with about 20 minutes to warm-up before starting, without bothering to do anything except put a brace on my knee, as I wasn’t expecting anything too different. Normally, playing on one leg is “not so much fun,” especially when I still have memories of playing so much better as a 17 year old.

A little diversion from Og Mandino’s “The Greatest Salesman in the World” about staying in the present, which is vital when playing table tennis, with balls travelling up to 100 km/h.

“I will live this day as if it is my last.
And what then shall I do? Forgetting yesterday neither will I think of tomorrow.”

In other words give my whole attention to what is happening right now. Translation, “Watch the ball!”

That’s not “Watch the ball with fear,” which shrinks and blurs the ball or worse gets me to blink and lose track of it entirely. The other thing I notice when I am frozen by fear is that my grip tightens and my forearm, bicep and shoulder lock. I can hardly move the bat by the time the ball is on me, hitting the ball into the net or off the table.

Back to last night.

After umpiring a match and before I was about to play my first opponent Malcolm, my coach John said, “He’s not a bad player.”

Based on my previous play I would have to agree with him. What happened though was I didn’t react to John’s assessment and went out to enjoy myself, remain focused during each point and to not give up.

As we hit in the warm-up I experienced greater naturalness in returning balls. I was more at ease and there was no clumsiness. I hardly noticed, if I actually did at all, being restricted by my knee. The result was 3-0 and in the second game I beat Malcolm 11-1. Now, that is a huge turn around. My comfort zone had changed! I was in charge, had more time, anticipated better, came out on top in rallies more often and played a higher standard of table tennis than I had previously.

The little chiropractic adjustments that David did to my left knee made all the difference.

That wasn’t possible if I continued choosing ‘flight’ instead of ‘fight’ and allowed the fear to rule me. By paying attention to the fear I had and hearing its wisdom I (and my Future Self) found a way that has me back on track believing, once again, that I can be the 2019 Over 65 Australian Table Tennis National Champion.

Late last night, John texted “Well done tonight, you stepped up to the plate!!!” In other words, he acknowledged a significant moment in my development as a player. It feels good to have someone else believe in you. It strengthens my resolve. If I were you, I too would be thinking, “Grant, you’ve got it the wrong way round. Your resolve needs to strengthen others belief in you.”

What I now realize about fear is that it is a beacon to my growth, a call to action to address an underlying cause, and then as in the long term quadriceps issue, to go deeper and address its underlying cause.

I like play on words, and I expect that you have hear that FEAR is FALSE Expectations Appearing Real. If reading F-E-A-R left to right brings FEAR then reversing it and reading it right to left should bring LOVE, right?

Turning FEAR around is R-A-E-F.

The antidote to fear is:

Responsive Actions Eliminate Fear.

 

Unite in Unity