The players finished their round of golf and proceeded to the club house to review and sign their score card.  A young boy watches with excitement as his favorite golfer looks up giving him a smile.

As the years go by, the young boy pursues dreams of his own, as he remembers that exciting day when he had the opportunity to follow his hero around the course.  The boy tried his hand at golf, but as he grew older he realized that he had other interests to pursue.

He finished high school and went onto college where he obtained a degree in the arts.  His parents were happy to see him pursuing his dreams and his passions, but were also concerned as to the viability of a steady career in those areas.   Artists, much like aspiring athletes are few and far between that can earn a “living” while producing the art of their passion.

As the boy completed his schooling, he always focused on obtaining the highest scores possible, similar to his golfing hero who hit each shot with intention and passion.  He understood the value of good grades in high school, so that he could be accepted into a college.  In college, he understood the importance of good grades, to help open “interview doors.”

Years after graduating college, the young man sat in his art studio reflecting on the grades and his pursuits during his years in school.  He looked at the sports that he played, and even the years of practice he devoted to the sport that he truly loved – golf.  Now he was in his own studio, pursuing his passion to create things first observed in his mind and then transformed onto canvas, clay, or whatever he could imagine.

But that day, was a little different.  He wondered if his pursuits may have been wrong.  Knowing that nothing is ever “wrong” on your journey of life, he wondered if maybe his focus was in the wrong places.  That is, if his focus was not congruent with his inner truth.  He liked to pursue golf because of the challenge that one faces.  Challenges that only the golfer himself must overcome.

Unlike other sports that have teammates to help overcome challenges, golf is a sport where the team is effectively one – or for the professionals, one and their caddie.   But unlike other sports, golf requires all activity in the game be performed by one, lone, player.

He knows that when he creates his art, his is doing that by himself as well, and that feels right to him.  Golf presented similar challenges.  However, where he thinks he may have focused on the wrong area of his life, was the pressure he placed on himself to compete.  To compete not with only himself, but with others around him.  His desire to win the tournaments in high school, or to out play his “teammates” on the high school golf team.

He realized that he only considered is “worth” as a golfer AFTER he saw the scores of his peers.  He could not simple go play a round of golf and let go of the score.   He could not evaluate himself and his abilities without knowing the scores of others.

Now years later he realized that he was doing it all again, with his art.  Looking back he realized he compared himself to others throughout his academic career.   He needed to see how his grades compared to others.   He always kept an eye on his “class rank” to see if he was moving upward.  He might even receive an ‘A’ in a class, but tried to find out if it was the highest grade in the class.

Looking around at the art in his studio made him realize that his whole life was not devoted to pursuing his passions, but in out performing others.

The art pieces were being prepared for a show at a prestigious gallery in the upcoming weeks.   At previous shows, he would look at his art and then the art of other artists to make comparisons.  Not to appreciate the work of others and to spawn new ideas – but rather to find flaws and reasons why his art should command a higher price.

He realized that one of the reasons he loves to create art, is because he gets to create without limits.  His mind can visualize anything and his goal is to take that visualization and to represent it for others to see.  His pursuit of his passion has nothing to do about money, or finding flaws in the work of his peers.  His passion is to create and to share that creation with others.

He wondered, if he could possibly go to the art gallery without looking at the posted prices.  If he could “trust” that the pursuit of his passion, when performed with integrity, could produce enough income for him to make a reasonable living.  In the past he spent much of his energy worrying about his financials, rather than focusing that energy on the work itself.

At that moment he changed his life.  He no longer “kept score” in anything that he did.  Even when he would play a round of golf, he never made a mark on his score card.   He would hit a shot with the intention of a professional, and then take the time to enjoy the beauty surrounding him.  He realized that for the first time, he actually could see the beautiful course for which he played nearly a hundred times before.

Now, he lifted his head, took a deep breath of fresh air, and truly enjoyed his game, no matter where the shots fell.   He also realized that the game is not about the score, but about the feeling of playing it.

More years passed and the man was showing his work at another art gallery opening, when an aspiring artist asked him how he was able to make his work so famous.  The man looked at the young artist and said, “It’s not about trying to be famous, or trying to make a lot of money.  It’s about enjoying the work.   The rest takes care of itself.”

Ω

As the man grew up he realized that keeping score for comparison against the performance of others is giving into the ego.  The ego wants to always be the best.  The ego thinks that if you are not number one, then you are last.   The ego wants to convince you that you need to continually compare yourself to others.

The man realized that comparing himself continually throughout his life, with others, that he was wasting his energy.  Energy that he could devote to his art.  When he had the “shift” in his belief system, he redirected that energy into his art.  His art then began to flourish because it was closer to his “inner truth.”  He didn’t need to focus on the financial aspect, of the comparison of his work against the work of others.  He could just enjoy the “game.”

InspiraCard

Enjoying the “game” is the reason you decided to enter this lifetime.  The ego pulls out the score card, and it is up to you to tear up the score card so that you can enjoy the world around you, while pursuing your passions.

Written Wed Jan 22, 2014, 7:22 – 7:50 AM MT