It's a Problem of Scale!

I play lots of table tennis, i compete and im very good at my sport, but the problem with me is that in a game i get wound up. I get stressed and i lose, i also make mistakes on the simplest shots. Could anyone help me :wink:

Comments

  • edited December 1969
    It's a Problem of Scale!
    We approach life naturally - instinctively - via the innate characteristics which evolved within us to cope with life and survive. Many say that our problem is that our emotions are not well matched to our brain, or that our wisdom is not matched to our brain. History and prehistory offer another viewpoint. We have been the same, brain size and emotions wise, for the last 200,000 years, at least. This is when modern humans, homo sapiens sapiens, appear in the archaeological record. What has changed over this period of time is the exponentially increasing rate of technology, especially over the last 10,000 years when, with the dawning of agriculture, people had more free time to [chref=16]innovate [/chref]. We are dealing with circumstances, the scale of which we are not biologically evolved to deal with sanely. We are in over our heads, so to speak.

    We have an innate capacity for work, for expending energy and for tribal intimacy. When these are not utilized by daily hunting and gathering activities, people need to do other 'work' and 'tribal' activities, e.g., armies, government, industry, school, sports, gangs, and so on.

    We used to 'suffer' from not knowing where our next meal was coming from, from tooth aches, cold or heat, and such. We have exchanged much of this physical suffering for a deeper level of emotional suffering, e.g., wars, politics, lack of life meaning, depression, family strife, murder, and so on. We're neurotic, which cause us to be 'sinful', if not 'evil'. Such 'sinfulness' and 'evil' are a natural result of the interplay between our biology and our scaled up circumstances.

    Suffering is part of life. We've just 'traded up', or is it 'down', for another form of suffering. The circumstances which increase our comfort and security also tend to make us more ego centric. It is this enhanced sense of self (ego) that causes us to be neurotic and thus suffer more emotionally.

    Soooo... Looking at the 'big picture' everything is just perfect. Not perfect in the sense that nature is conforming to what we want, but perfect in the sense of natural balance. Joy (pleasure) and suffering (pain) are part life on earth... all life, including us. We've just changed the nature of our pleasures and pains. We seem to be under the illusion that we can escape natural consequences, that we can 'have our cake and eat it too'. Can we ever truly face the fact that nature insists on balance, and thus whatever we desire in life will always comes with unintended consequences? If we ever do, we will be in a better position to plumb the depths of our soul to know what we truly want of life. We may then be able to give up either 'the cake' or the 'eating of it'.

    Of course, as people age they tend to come closer to realize the 'big picture'. After all, life is a learning process and the longer you live the more chance you have to learn 'something'. Alas, the old folks die and are replaced by the next generation who then must relearn for themselves. As Buddha said, we must verify 'truth' within our own experience, and that take a lifetime to do.

    Oh, and have a nice day! :)
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