Control, is one of the 4 C’s. With reference to sports it means composure. A sportsperson’s ability to maintain control of their emotions in the face of the rollercoaster ride of emotions that they encounter in the pursuit of excellence is paramount to them winning. The emotions encountered could be anxiety, anger, dejection, helplessness, envy, etc.
Sportspersons continuously state that they are just not cool enough under pressure and that if they had composure at those points of the match, they would have surely won, because they were actually playing great. But because of the lack of composure they fell apart and lost.
They always ask, Sir how do I stay in control of my emotions? They seem not to be in my control when I want them to be.
“DURING KEY MOMENTS OF THE MATCH, IF YOU TRY TO CONTROL THEM, YOU CAN’T.”
They have to come under control (as if automatically) and that is possible.
How can a sportsperson have that control and calmness (as if automatically)?
I’ll take a simple example. If you can lift 50 kgs of weights in the gym and you are targeting to lift 100 kgs, then over weeks, months or years of effort you can build your muscles and lift 100 kgs. However if today you are capable of lifting 50 kgs and someone asks you to lift 100 kgs you can’t. If you try too hard you will eventually pull a muscle and injure yourself badly.
The emotions during match play are in a heightened state. They put a lot weight (more weight instead of normal) upon your mind. They seem heavier during the match. Hence if you need to be able to lift them (handle them), you need that capacity to be able to lift them before the match starts. So like lifting weights, the weight of your emotions that you would encounter during the match is what you should be able to lift. That means you have to work upon them for weeks, months, years before you gain the strength to lift them. Otherwise during the match when they become heavy, you can’t lift them and you crumble and loose.
Emotional strength (control) depends upon the amount of control that you are able to bring in your daily lifestyle.
We have to start with the senses. We have five sense organs; the eyes, the ears, the tongue, the nose, skin. They report to us sight, sound, taste, smell & touch.
Sense control is to be worked at, to enable us to manage and build our emotional control. Without achieving control of the senses, control of the mind is not possible.
All of you know that sense control is not that easy. How much you crave for the burger, pizza, coffee or watching movies, being on the social media etc.
Since sense control is not that easy, we should keep in mind while trying to control the five senses; that we will fail initially. However, we need not feel guilty, because they are so powerful that a person is bound to fail in initial attempts and therefore one need not feel bad; but at the same time, since they are so powerful, they require a lot of alertness to overcome. Therefore we need to be alert with regard to our sensory operations; what we talk; what we eat, what we hear, whom we move with etc., with regards to all of them we have to start wielding control as all of them affect our emotional control.
Sensory control is not gained by denying the sense, but by sensory regulation. Through sense regulation, sense management, sense mastery can be achieved.
Many students have told me that the mind was agitated for a reason that they could not understand, even thought they had their senses under their control. However many times when we are controlling the senses, many things do slip through.
Let’s, take an example: the TV has got so many programs. There are so many wonderful programs; but there are so many terrible programs; which can pollute my mind. Even though I do not want certain forms and colors to enter, they may enter. Once they have entered, in spite of my careful living, one cannot stop them from impacting you.
Sense control is not suppression; it is management. Most people suppress and therefore don’t get the benefits of sense control.
So go ahead work on your sense control and see it giving benefits in your emotional control.
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