Everyone begins life with natural capacities for relaxation, imagination, and creativity. The process of socialization, necessary to make life in a society possible, can also quickly erode these positive attitudes. We learn to comply with rules to avoid negative consequences from an early age. A negative byproduct of this can be that we only hear negative messages. We learn and memorize the negative way of thinking, and in this way we lose the skill of scanning and "hearing" our own bodies. That is why we have to relearn those useful positive mental skills. Bringing our negative programming under control, or eliminating it, is only half the battle. An equally important issue is mastering the ability to think positively, which makes mental preparation easier and speeds up the achievement of desired effects. The general principle to remember is that negative thoughts lead to negative reactions and positive thoughts lead to positive reactions. And if you want to make your functioning more effective, in sport or life in general, you should use that principle. Through your positive thoughts, which can have the form of self-suggestions, you can have an influence on your feelings and physical actions. If you want to be a person with a positive attitude to life, you should pay heed to the following suggestions: - Use only positive forms of thoughts and statements. For example, say, " I want to win," instead of, " I don't want to lose" or, " I have to win, I can't afford to lose." - Avoid words such as no, never, don't, can't and impossible. Statements like, "I can't do it," do not exist in the wrestling room. Eliminate these words from your vocabulary, at least so far as messages you send yourself. Every time you use one of these words, immediately rephrase or reframe the statement into a positive one. For example, change, "I can't do it," to, "I'll work at it." - Avoid thoughts that you perceive as forcing you to do what you don't feel like doing. Get rid of them by rephrasing them and only what you want to do. This is extremely important while training for wrestling. Your coaches are not "making" you do something. They are pushing you to your mental and physical limits so that you can be the very best you can be. This should be your goal anyway. If you make yourself conscious of this goal each day of practice, you will respond better to drills and conditioning. You will want practice to be tough because you want to be a champion. Bible Proverb 23:7 "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." "If you think you can or if you think you can't, your right either way" -Henry Ford
References: Nowicki, D. (1993). Gold medal mental workout: Fundamentals, A step by step program of mental exercises to make you a winner every time. Stadion Publishing Co. Island Pond, VT. |
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