Golf Ball Greed

Early yesterday morning, my husband and I watched as about twenty golf carts passed our place for the start of a tournament. This made me grin with delight at the many golf balls there would be on my walk today. Truth is, I couldn’t wait for morning, so I went for a short stroll last evening and I found seven golf balls within ten yards of our doorstep which is in the slice zone. But, oh, I thought, how fun it will be in the morning when I hit the gully in the fifteenth fairway!

As it happened a nagging back ache won out at 6:00 am and I decided to roll over once more before rising, knowing full well that I would miss my chance at the plentiful treasure awaiting me on the links. Still, I am committed to following the truth of my own personal flow and sleeping in felt like a rare and welcomed treat.

When I hit the trail at 7:30, the serious golf ball hunters were out in numbers poking their long poles into difficult crevasses. There’s one couple I especially appreciate because along with balls, they pick up trash, as I do. There they were, searching the area I had cleaned out last evening and obviously finding a few balls I had missed. Seeing them awoke an Inner Critter in my mind. They’re going to get all of the balls, it greedily chided. You slept too late and you’re going to lose out.

I’ve practiced noticing when my Inner Critters take the microphone in my head, because the behaviors and attitudes they foster are never helpful. So I turned my attention to my Whisperer voice, my intuitive voice of possibility. It said, It doesn’t matter. Just enjoy your walk. You made a powerful choice to honor your health today. Immediately, I felt my usual sense of morning delight return and a wave of generosity washed over me. It will be such fun for them finding all those balls, I thought as I saw the couple head down the fairway that I would normally have passed an hour earlier.

I was rewarded almost instantly for taking charge of my self-talk. As I crossed the road to reach the desert preserve that starts my every day, there, by the curb right on my exact path, lay a lovely new Callaway. It was a most fortunate sign, my one-for-sure find of the day. Later, as I meandered off the trail a bit I found a Maxfli and a Top-Flite gleaming on the barren desert floor.  And then, joy of joys, as I came back to the sixteenth tee where my desert trail meets the cart path, I had to step aside as not one but two sets of about fifteen carts filled with eager golfers whizzed by. You see, said my Whisperer, you’ll have another chance tomorrow. No question, this was a direct reward for having silenced those greedy Inner Critters and tuned in to my Whisperer who always puts me back in the flow of possibility thinking.

If you’re concerned about how much play your Inner Critters are getting in your thought patterns, there are two potent things you can do. First, stop feeding them the fear and doubt that come with mass media by turning it off. Second, check out the free BoldMoves Readiness coaching calls that Allan and I offer each Tuesday afternoon. Click here for more information.