Have you ever watched a sporting event? Better yet, participated in one? There are life lessons that we can learn from athletic competitions. Athletes are good examples of discipline and perseverance. Successful athletes have developed the ability to push the limits of their potential and recover quickly from setbacks. Any athlete will tell you that it’s all about practice, practice, practice! And that physical training is intrinsically linked to mental training.
You don’t have to be an athlete to adopt an athletic attitude in your life. In all of our lives, we face daily competitions in our minds. It is a competition between positive thoughts and negative ones. Our competitions aren’t on a stage for all to see, they are within us – in our minds – against our own thoughts. But when we tackle these challenges like an athlete and the positive thoughts win, that victory is as important to us as any gold medal.
Athletes repeatedly practice their skills, which takes mental and physical discipline. We can train our minds to hold on to the positive thoughts and let go of the negative rhetoric by repeatedly choosing to do so. We discipline ourselves to control our thoughts, so that we can think positively and not allow the negatives of life to overcome us. With practice and perseverance, we can develop a habit of regularly confessing positives. Just like athletes, we won’t win every time, but with practice we will learn to handle situations productively by our convictions.
Our bodies are supposed to obey our minds. When we discipline our minds, we take control of our bodies. Bad habits are formed by our bodies not following that plan. For example, I have a giant sweet tooth. If my tastebuds had their way, I would have donuts for breakfast, cookies for lunch, cake and ice cream for dinner, and a candy snack in between. I know that it’s unhealthy to eat that way, so my mind must overrule my sweet tooth’s demands and I must discipline my sweet tooth to listen to reason. As long I keep the mental and physical in proper order, I can control those cravings. This takes a deliberate decision, practice, and thinking like an athlete.
Mental discipline also governs our moods and emotions. Some people think that controlling their emotions means having none. If you are anything like me, that is not possible. But there is a fine line between controlling our emotions and our emotions controlling us. I think this is easy to understand if we think about anger. We all recognize that anger needs to be contained. And this is done by utilizing our disciplined thinking to keep that emotion under control. Other emotions / moods can be handled in this manner as well. There will be times that we are sad, but we can’t stay sad. When we are ready, we must decide to put that sadness behind us. On the other end of the spectrum, we want to be happy. Happy is not a bad thing. But we can’t allow happy* to be the deciding factor. Again, looking at my sweet tooth. Eating sweets makes me happy. But the repercussions of allowing that happiness to be in charge are obvious. When we govern our emotions, we can be happy without happy being in control. (*point of clarity – “happy” used here is in the context of it being derived from external sources, which can actually drive people to obsession if left unchecked. This happy is not the same as contentment, joy, or satisfaction that comes from inside us)
Athletic competitions give us good mind pictures to help us in our contests. For example, I often picture a hurdler when I think about life. As we are running the race of life there will be hurdles. But if we maintain our stride, we can get over them. What about the team who is losing at half-time, but rallies in the second half to win the game? Isn’t that victory even more victorious? We also can rally in a situation that seems to be beating us, and win in the end. And those are such rewarding victories! Think about ice skaters who fall during their performances. We admire them because they get up and continue skating. We can have that same kind of determination to not quit when we fall. Like those skaters, if we get knocked down, we can and must get ourselves up and try again.
Think about sports movies. Several of those are on my favorites list. Why? Not because I’m such a great sports fan, but because they depict the underdog succeeding. The person or team that looks like they don’t stand a chance, WINS against the opposing bully! And when that happens, we cheer and rejoice. I’ve been in theaters when the whole audience actually applauded and shouted out loud. We rejoice at those movies because we identify with those characters. We know that there are times in life when we are the underdogs. When it doesn’t look like we have a chance of succeeding against that one particular bully who is opposing us at every turn. But we can win by our positive conviction, our dedication to prayer, and God’s help! Then when we get our victory, everyone celebrates just like in the movies. Defeating the bully is a universally satisfying win.
Like an athlete, through practice, we must discipline our minds and bodies so we can successfully meet the challenges of life. Athletes compete against other athletes or against assigned obstacles or both. We compete against negative influences in our minds so we can maintain a positive lifestyle. Athletes receive trophies, medals, or monetary rewards for their success. We receive a life well lived. Sometimes the whole world celebrates an athlete’s victory. Many times, we are the only ones who know about ours. However, even though our victories may not bring us recognition or fame, they make a difference in our lives, which can be far reaching.
Any one of us can be a great athlete in the competition in our minds. Through practice, we can train our minds to expand our possibilities and overcome our adversities. Whatever our challenge is, we can be champions when we have determination, prayer, and God’s help. We can think like an athlete with discipline and perseverance, and we can stand in the winner’s circle on the podium of our positive conviction.
Note to my readers: I don’t want to sound like a broken record, (I wonder if young people will get that reference??) but again I thank you for continuing to read my writings. I certainly hope that they are blessing you, uplifting you, and giving you a fresh perspective. You are the best!!