| Bill Taylor
tells a story of standing in a circle of people
with a snake charmer in the centre of the circle,
a venomous cobra in his hands. The snake charmer
lunges at the people at random, poking the snake
at the them, they jump back, but not Bill - how?
He knows the charmer won't let the snake bite
them, so he shuts his eyes, removing the fear. Your
pupils dilate, you jump back, your mouth tenses
up, your palms get sweaty, you freeze in your
tracks, your heart beats so fast you can feel the
blood thumping. All this without thinking:
instinct is taking over.
|
You are in a store,
suddenly a robber bursts in and holds the
storekeeper up with a gun. Your heart beats
faster. Those parts of your brain at the deepest
level start releasing chemicals, hormones, which
increase the flow of blood your body. The
adrenalin flows so you can make a quick escape:
fight-or-flight. In modern society we no longer (hopefully)
need these primal defense mechanisms - but they
are still there, deep in your brain, and they
will kick in in those "pressure"
situations. These chemicals allow the
primitive, instictive, muscle memory to take
action, and dull the ability of the brain to
think clearly. It's hard to think rationally and
you become unreceptive to your coach and team
mates. If bowling in a team event your
nervousness ("vibes") will also be be
picked up by your team mates, because they, too,
are able to pick up danger signals.
The key is to realise that this is perfectly
natural and happens automatically, to everyone.
Knowledge of your natural reactions, though,
allows you to tune-in and recognise the signals -
before the helplessness takes over - so you can
regain control of yourself and your team.
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