The Secret To Relaxation – How Tee-Ball Changed My Life
THE MOMENT
Much like a lot of people with my personality type, my mind is always going…and I mean always!
So much so, it takes my wife to pull me back into the moment. As a matter of fact, even when I’m in the moment, 95% of the time I am either thinking of something I need to finish or what I’ll need to be doing next.
Yeah, over the years I’ve gotten better at it, but my mind never stops wanting to wander…that is unless I am doing only one activity.
WHAT KEEPS ME IN THE MOMENT?
Working out doesn’t do it. Yoga doesn’t do it. Running doesn’t do it. Meditating doesn’t do it.
NOT EVEN SLEEPING REALLY KEEPS MY MIND IN THE MOMENT!
It took me 31 years to figure it out – but coaching tee-ball keeps me in the moment!
HOW TEE-BALL CHANGED MY LIFE
Last year my oldest son turned 4 years old and there was a tee-ball league for his age group. My nephew is also 4 and my older brother asked if I’d be his assistant coach since the two boys were going to be on the same team. Being that I had no real choice I told him yes.
So there we were, my older brother and I, with no coaching experience and only about 15 years of playing-baseball experience (which terminated at the high school level), looking down at about 12 four-year olds…I must say I was a bit intimidated…but I thought to myself, “If Niña can handle 40 seven-year olds at one time we can most certainly handle 12 four year olds.”
Luckily, as practice started the intimidation factor dropped drastically and by the end of that first practice I did two things I had never done in my entire life.
- I learned and memorized 12 new people’s names in an hour’s time, and
- I was completely in the moment!
I don’t know how else to say this other then to just say that….
…At the end of that first practice I felt more relaxed then I had ever felt in my entire life!
THE SECRET TO RELAXING – BE IN THE MOMENT
…or FORCE YOURSELF INTO THE MOMENT!!!
Yeah, trying to teach four year olds how to run the bases and hit, field, and throw a baseball while not fighting over the ball and/or crying every time they don’t get the ball is like herding cats…but to herd a herd of cats is herd, I mean hard!
So hard that you are forced into the moment – making sure everyone and everything is accounted for…not to mention keeping track of which cats you are actually getting through to and which ones just act like they know what’s going on because the correct response is always to “just nod”…right?
Anyways, the point here is that I truly enjoyed every minute of every practice and every game that first year and have realized during this second season as coach that it’s a feeling that’ll continue as long as I continue coaching.
I personally think there is something about teaching that makes me truly focused on what I’m doing – something that forces me to be in the moment…something that truly relaxes me no matter how frustrating it may be.
FIND YOUR MOMENT AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE
I’ve been exercising, running, meditating, playing sports, and/or doing Yoga for nearly 24 years now, but it wasn’t until I found myself coaching 12 four year olds last year that I learned to truly and entirely be in the moment…and, the moment I realized I had been in “the moment” is the moment I could truly start changing the rest of my life.
You see, being in the moment comes naturally to some folks, Niña lives so much in the moment she can’t see tomorrow, but others, people like me, have to learn to be in the moment…and to do this they have to work harder than you could even imagine.
Niña and I have been together for 18 years and since our third date she noticed I was always thinking of what was coming next. Yes, even during my teen years I was focused on the future…even if it was thinking about dinner before eating lunch. So, the moment I told her I had never felt so focused…so relaxed…she made a big deal to make sure I started focusing on that feeling – focusing on truly relaxing…and, in doing so, focusing on changing my life.
IT’S NOT LIKE RIDING A BIKE …
…BUT IT CAN BE JUST AS RELAXING
Learning to be in the moment can be just that, a learning process.
So, when you do find yourself truly in the moment, even if it’s post-moment, take note of how and why you found yourself in the moment. Take note of what you were doing, what you were feeling, and how you might be able to start replicating “the moment” because replicating “the moment” will change your life…take this from someone who suffered from chronic hypertension for more than two years.
Yeah, the answer to my stressful way of thinking is to put myself into another stressful situation and this may not be your answer to relaxation But, the point here is to find whatever makes your life seem to slow down to the point where you think of nothing but the task at hand.
Learn to live in the now…because when you do, tomorrow becomes today and today becomes AWESOME…and, in turn, AWESOMENESS IS a lot more RELAXING!
By Rolando Rodriguez
