Lessons from a Game,
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I've been girly enough to have ignored football most of my life, until 2006. At that time I lived in Mexico with a German husband. We were rather isolated, but I enjoyed the friendship of handful of Germans who lived around there, too. When the world-cup came, I found myself infected with their football enthusiasm, and declared myself "Ehrendeutsche," an honorable German - a claim based on the fact that I partly grew up in Germany and feel German is my second mother tongue.
Ever since, I have stayed an "Ehrendeutsche" when it comes to football, so the last few days, up to the finals of the World Cup 2014, were a delight. We watched the surreal match against Brazil with Mark, who practices German with me for university. He jokingly asked whether I home-made the match on video after Germany scored goal after goal after goal after goal after goal after goal after goal ... which definitely was another experience of altered states of consciousness! During the finals, I remained much more sober, multitasking on my computer, while watching the match on a second screen. But joy and curiosity made me read the German online papers first thing this morning.
There was something I suspected for a long time now: if you are after the finest psychologists on the planet and you want to see the best in personal development, go and talk to the great sports coaches. They seem to know more about human nature than all the psychologists, therapists and spiritual teachers combined! I watched what was going on during Germany's incredible performance and noticed quite a bit of magic going on:
From the start as if they already had 4 stars
1. The Law of Attraction Bus
The slogan painted on the German national team bus said: "On the way to the fourth title". Next to the slogan were painted four stars: three for the world cups Germany has already won, and the fourth for the one it is winning now.
Wow! Some critiques in the media commented on the bravery of such assumption; however, it is indeed a perfect usage of the spiritually highly acclaimed "Law of Attraction". The "Law of Attraction" says that like attracts like, and our mind is drawing into our lives whatever it is focused on.
The slogan painted on the German national team bus said: "On the way to the fourth title". Next to the slogan were painted four stars: three for the world cups Germany has already won, and the fourth for the one it is winning now.
Wow! Some critiques in the media commented on the bravery of such assumption; however, it is indeed a perfect usage of the spiritually highly acclaimed "Law of Attraction". The "Law of Attraction" says that like attracts like, and our mind is drawing into our lives whatever it is focused on.
"On the way to our fourth title"
The best way to use this law to our advantage is to live and feel as if we already achieved what we want. "Fake it 'til you make it," says the NLP slogan. A team bus like did not only make the German team literally visualise their winning, but also make them feel them like members of an elite, winning team: captain Joachim Löw did not ever let anyone else board the bus, but the players - not even family.
"The entire stadium will be against us."
2. Fantastic Reframing
Before the historic semi-finals in Belo Horizonte Jerome Boateng summed up the readiness of his whole team saying: "The entire stadium will be against us. It'll be a fantastic experience!"
What a perfect use of reframing! Others might shrink of being surrounded by thousands and thousands of enemies, the value of any situation really depends on the commentary we give about it. Nothing is inherently good or bad, but we must learn, as another NLP rules states, never to tell a story against yourself. Another winning attitude of the German team was this: if we win on hostile ground, we are heroes doubly so.
3. The Enormous Value of Intuition
We tend to think we live in a rational world, where decisions are made based on logic and analysis. However, intuition always plays a role when genius strikes. Throughout the world cup, reserve player Mario Götze realized little of the "Wunderkind" (prodigy child) potential he was supposed to have. The young player became increasingly an outsider, his performance decreasing throughout the tournament. Nevertheless, Captain Löw decided to let the substitute play after 88 minutes in the finals. His reasons? "I had the feeling," Löw said, "that he could do it." Löw channelled his intuition with clear intent when he put his arm around Götze, telling him: "Now show the entire world that you are better than Messi. Show the world that you can decide a game." And Götze did.
At the end, football, just like life, boils down to magic. Magic is the ability to see what does not yet exist, and manifest it into the world. I noticed this watching Joachim Löw's face just before the game. You could tell the Germans will win. It gave me the same sensation when I was watching Mo Farah's face just before he won the Olympics. You could tell he will win. So, I came to realize that the winner is certain before the race begins. Winning is an attitude of mind rather than an act of fate.
We might not always know what makes a winner, but we learn to adjust our thoughts and behavior day by day - not to become better than anyone else, but to become better than we ourselves were yesterday.
Before the historic semi-finals in Belo Horizonte Jerome Boateng summed up the readiness of his whole team saying: "The entire stadium will be against us. It'll be a fantastic experience!"
What a perfect use of reframing! Others might shrink of being surrounded by thousands and thousands of enemies, the value of any situation really depends on the commentary we give about it. Nothing is inherently good or bad, but we must learn, as another NLP rules states, never to tell a story against yourself. Another winning attitude of the German team was this: if we win on hostile ground, we are heroes doubly so.
3. The Enormous Value of Intuition
We tend to think we live in a rational world, where decisions are made based on logic and analysis. However, intuition always plays a role when genius strikes. Throughout the world cup, reserve player Mario Götze realized little of the "Wunderkind" (prodigy child) potential he was supposed to have. The young player became increasingly an outsider, his performance decreasing throughout the tournament. Nevertheless, Captain Löw decided to let the substitute play after 88 minutes in the finals. His reasons? "I had the feeling," Löw said, "that he could do it." Löw channelled his intuition with clear intent when he put his arm around Götze, telling him: "Now show the entire world that you are better than Messi. Show the world that you can decide a game." And Götze did.
At the end, football, just like life, boils down to magic. Magic is the ability to see what does not yet exist, and manifest it into the world. I noticed this watching Joachim Löw's face just before the game. You could tell the Germans will win. It gave me the same sensation when I was watching Mo Farah's face just before he won the Olympics. You could tell he will win. So, I came to realize that the winner is certain before the race begins. Winning is an attitude of mind rather than an act of fate.
We might not always know what makes a winner, but we learn to adjust our thoughts and behavior day by day - not to become better than anyone else, but to become better than we ourselves were yesterday.
