Article Source: The Positive Observer

People constantly ask me the following questions: 

• 1) Any suggestions on dealing with negative emotions?
• 2) Is there a mental exercise I can perform to clear my head of negative thoughts and help me to improve my focus?

The answer is...yes!

While I was on the US Ski Team, and during an Olympic year,  our organization made a sports psychologist available to us if we wanted to work with him.  As an athlete very committed to being the best I could be, I was open and eager to meet with him.  

"Dr. Anonymous" was easily overweight by 40-50 lbs, reeked of cigar smoke and had an easy-going manner about him.  We sat and talked about what went on in my head prior to and when I entered the gate (moments before an athletic performance).  He told me I should recognize any negative self-talk and stop it by saying to myself “STOP!”  We talked a little bit longer about the challenges of constantly being on the road, but that was about it.
     
Now I don’t know about you, but things happen pretty darn fast in professional skiing.  The truth is, things happen pretty darn fast in life!  So that entire concept, while it sounded good, didn’t really help out when I was standing at the top of the Alps on an icy precipice about to hurl myself down a treacherous mogul course.

One thing I did do before I was introduced to the field of mind-body medicine and before I really learned how to channel all that tremendous energy was to make up what I call a “cadence chant” and simply say it over and over again in my mind.  Later, I learned this has a way of “jamming internal dialogue”, which has a tendency to increase as the performance or stakes rise.  The “chant” that worked best for me was:  “Relax, Confident, Have Fun!”  I found when I had these three elements I felt invincible, unstoppable and electrified!  

Create and think about what works best for you.  Be certain the words move you in a positive and inspiring direction.  Negative words or phrases such as NO or DO NOT, never seem to work as well as positive words and phrases.  The reason for this is your unconscious mind is unable to process negatives.  In other words, the phrase “Just say no to drugs” has you think about drugs.  Think about it.  You can not think about what you don’t want to think about.  Ok, are you scrambled yet?  If I were to say “clean and sober” then you get a totally different internal representation or picture in your unconscious mind.   Isn’t this fun?  How about this...One of my past coaches used to tell me "don’t go too fast."  Yet, I was a ski RACER.  How devastating! I learned pretty quickly to ignore the coach.  Notice how I said "ignore" instead of “don’t listen.”  There is a difference.        

I instruct all my athletic clients to use “Peripheral Vision”.  Students who use their peripheral vision tend to have better recall and achieve higher grades.  Several keynote speakers report greater overall calmness during presentations when trained to use their peripheral vision.  There is some evidence that PV synchronizes the left/right hemispheres of the brain.  PV also “jams internal dialogue”, thus allowing the performer to experience a profound state of peace and being “in the moment”, which is right where you need to be for any peak performance.  I wish more teachers utilized the benefits of PV with their students. Such information and insight would be invaluable information for the students on how they could use their tremendous brains to be better, happier and healthier human beings.   

Maggie Connor is an Olympian, 2X World Professional Champion in skiing.  She is the Owner & Lead Trainer at Ultimate Journey & Maggie Connor International.  She is a Certified Master Trainer in Neuro Linguistics, Time Line Training, Hypnosis, Kinesiology, Reiki Master, teacher of Hawaiian Huna, and Lomilomi Practitioner.   
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