The A.R.C. Toward Living and Performing More Freely
Last week the Indiana Pacers were trailing the New York Knicks by 14 points with less than three minutes remaining in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals. Then they did something no team that is losing by so many points with so little time remaining has done since the NBA started tracking play-by-play data in 1997.
They came back and won.
Consider the thoughts that the Pacers’ players were likely having when there were four minutes remaining:
There’s not a chance. They’ve outplayed us. I’m exhausted. I wish I’d played better. How did I make so many mistakes?
It would have been easy and natural for them to dismiss any hopeful thoughts such as:
Stay focused on this point. You can still do this. You’re capable. What’s done is done. Make this your moment. Encourage your teammates.
Here’s the reality: In the face of failure and opposition, people usually pay attention to the failure and opposition, which decreases energy and will.
Where Do You Commit Your Attention When You’re Afraid or Under Pressure?
In Four Patterns of Healthy People, I wrote about the fears, worries, and negative thoughts that drain energy and constrain freedom. I’d recommended accepting and releasing naturally occurring thoughts that drain you of energy and committing yourself to energy-filling thoughts, especially in times of challenge.
Imagine your stream of consciousness is like a stream of water that has red leaves and green leaves falling into it. Red leaves drain you of energy (I’m terrible at this. I really screwed this up. I’m afraid to fail.), and green leaves fill your energy store (I have more strength. Follow the process. I’ve succeeded before.)
Accept and release the red leaves. Commit to the green leaves.
Accept.
Release.
Commit.
It’s the A.R.C. toward living and performing more freely.
To be sure, it’s difficult to accept and release the red leaves. In order to find a culprit or solution, people tend to turn the negatives over and over in their minds.
This rumination leads to self-focus. Self-focus makes it harder to love, serve, and take risks.
You might be ruminating on mistakes, problems, relationships, your future, your health, changes in your life, or the quality of your life.
Choose to accept and release the draining thoughts. Commit to thoughts of gratitude, strength, and opportunity.
As Dale Carnegie said, “Let’s fill our minds with thoughts of peace, courage, heath, and hope, for ‘our life is what our thoughts make it.’”
However the season ends for the Indiana Pacers, they can say that they remained committed to the green leaves. Let it be true for us also.
What red leaves do you need to accept and release? What green leaves do you need to commit to?
