One Step At A Time

Some people like to multi-task, but me, I like to take it one step at a time. 

I learned the value of concentrating on one thing at a time playing golf. 

When my brother and I were teenagers on summer break, a little to old for babysitters and a little too young to be left to our own devices or to create new vices, dad would sometimes drop us off at the golf course on his way to work and pick us up on the way home. 

I suppose it kept us out of trouble most days. We spent lots of time on the golf course. It's a good thing we liked it. 

I learned a few things on the golf course like how projecting into the future can be a bad thing sometimes.  Most great golfers will say they visualize their shots before they even step up to the ball.  They pull from their experience to project into the future. 

The problem is that I had a lot of experience hitting bad shots.  So I'd visualize everything that could go wrong and didn't pay enough attention to what could go right. 

Negative forecasting is a bad habit to get into. 

My projections really worked against me. I'd get all flustered and nervous and nothing would seem to work. I'd become my own worst enemy. 

If you spend too much time thinking your ball is careening off a pine tree into no-mans land it will happen. I've been told that trees are 90% air but somehow my golf ball never got that memo. 

I learned to take my mind off the bad stuff by focusing on keeping my head down, keeping my eye on the ball, and following through. That's it. It's what they call "swing thoughts".  Yup, it's a real thing. 

Swing thoughts, for me, exist to block out the negative so I can concentrate fully on what's happening now. I think they might call it mindfulness today.  

It's the same thing when I sit down at the easel. It always goes better when I concentrate on what I'm doing right now rather than worrying about the results. I think about applying each brush stroke, paying attention to the brush as it hits the canvas, and focusing on what happens as the colors come together.  

If I stick with doing one thing at a time, most of the time I get a pretty good result and the experience is much better too. 

I just show up and paint.

BTW- I did show up and I did do some painting this week.

I have included a little video of my brush hitting the canvas.  I hope you enjoy.  

Until next week - I'll keep painting and ... you ... well ... 

I wish you peace. ​