After getting a solid snooker technique together, a big barrier for players at the 40-60 break level he process of staying down on the shot, getting good results, and then letting the mind get carried away with the thought ‘I am playing really well now’ to the degree that you miss the shot!
The key is not to believe your thoughts at the snooker table – and just allow them to come and go like a stick floating by on a stream.
It is irrelevant whether your thought is ‘I am playing really well now! ’(traditionally called ‘POSITIVE’ thinking), or ‘I am playing TERRIBLY’ (traditionally called ‘NEGATIVE’ thinking).
The fact is, that ANY thought you identify with at the table will be a distraction – it’s content is irrelevant as both ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ thoughts can make you miss.
So, we need to learn to have our mind one level above our thoughts – like a plane looking down on the clouds.
Meditating daily for five to ten mins to just watch the thoughts go by can be a great way to put space between you and your thoughts.
You can look at a candle (or an app in your phone of a candle, or for meditation) and simply notice how long your mind can stay on the candle and allow the thought stream that comes in to float by.
Most people 5 seconds very demanding to start with. Try it now to test….
All these thoughts and emotions CANNOT stay the same indefinitely, so just allowing them to pass through is the easiest way to deal with them.
You DO NOT need to do the following with the thoughts you experience all the time:
Resist it
Fight it
Trap it
Kill it
Freeze it
Just let the thoughts be, realise you will never get perfect at it, and simply resolve to get a little bit better every week at holding your mind in one place AND allowing the mental flotsam and jetsam to come and go in equal measure.
You can also practice being present in your daily life too.
So practice this type of waking mindfulness daily for at least a few minutes where your practice is to keep the mind on what you are doing.
If you are driving the car, drive the car.
If you are washing the dishes, wash the dishes.
If you are talking with someone, talk with someone.
If working at work, work at work.
If playing snooker play snooker…
After two months of effort and playing every week you should notice a big difference.
Let us know how you get on with these ideas….