2023 has been an interesting year
New connections have entered the conversation , stayed and walked on again
Existing connections have stayed, looked elsewhere, returned
Andy has connected with new guides, restarted conversations with previous guides, had spells of not looking to anyone else, felt an urgent need to catch up with others …. all expressions of my experience that illuminate again that nothing is ever constant (in terms of my personalised beliefs/needs/activities)
‘No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man’ : Heraclitus
Andy’s ideas, beliefs, personalisation will indeed forever fluctuate …..there is no repetition or control (we just believe/been led to believe there could be IF ONLY we practiced, rehearsed long enough)
However, beneath all of that SURFACE FLUCTUATION/SEEKING, remains a deepening knowing that there’s an impersonal experience that is the ultimate connection, the ultimate guide, an ultimate constant, the ultimate source of all that I actually require.
Thru 2023 the visible form of success showed up for the circle of players worldwide claiming multiple wins, progressing up OOM’s and gaining status on a new tour for their 2024 campaigns . The VISIBLE evidence remains compelling that the inside-out understanding ‘works’ . Haha …. my ego still loves to pretend it’s down to me.
But alongside that this year, Andy has found himself shying away from documenting those successes, shying away from promoting the visible titles/obvious rewards and noticed himself backing away from any notion that there’s a relationship between pro golfers winning and Andy being responsible for any of that !
Why not just promote that Andy and make yourself more visible, more valuable , more sought after, more influential?
Because it’s not true!!
Andy (a personal entity) doesn’t enable players to play better/feel better whilst playing golf …….the understanding does (an impersonal force)
At most I am a signpost, a metaphorical lighthouse, a hand pointing in the direction of something way more influential than Andy could ever be intellectually. My ego doesn’t like that 🙂 My ego wants to jump in and claim success for a player winning, shooting low numbers, banking money ….I suspect that won’t change in 2024 .
But what is evolving is that Andy is less and less bothered by his ego chirping up and attempting to claim success and influence . Less bothered about trying to nail down an apparent ‘winning mental formula’ , package it up into a nice shiny product and sell it back to the next seeker, the next insecure soul , the next performer convinced he/she can’t cope and requires Andy to fix them.
NB I will leave those shiny promises to the mainstream guides who do still imply their input creates a direct difference in another . Nice claim if you can hoodwink enough players, enough of the time . Not true …but a claim that remains widespread nevertheless
It was interesting that in the weeks of the biggest wins players claimed , Andy felt less and less inclined to connect to the personal. I felt a sense of wanting to disappear and reconnect to the source of all expressions , immerse myself in my music, go walk alone, read …. to breathe in causeless connection and do the exact opposite of wanting to be visible and responsible for external successes.
I’ve paid attention to that throughout ’23 …. it makes sense to me that any markedly upscale in personalised gain is a sign I am looking away from the impersonal value that underpins my true nature. Perhaps that’s why when a player won I felt a degree of agitation? Andy grabbing the personal story and wisdom alerting me to that.
The universal understanding I will endeavour to share is way more important than Andy’s sense of self importance .
Andy’s personal view on performance isn’t universal, it’s personal. And whilst Andy’s personal view may help someone now and again, it’s not the universal message that underpins all I am pointing to
The 2024 conversation will continue to point to that and despite predicting that will probably result in an ever revolving door with players coming and leaving , I am not changing track anytime soon.
A performer believing they can control the personal will forever seek the next tool promising that its necessary if they wish to succeed . And there will remain plenty coaches packaging such tools on a loop , each one promising a little more control than the last .
Into ’24 I suspect this work will continue to reach the few .
As I navigate the 5th decade of my own life, compromising with players who flit in out of the conversation (often returning with yet another concept, model, personalised formula for practice/competing) is not on my radar. In all truth I have felt compromised way too often in ’23 and at times the understanding has been side-lined whilst I give such players a very generous benefit of the doubt .
In ’24 there will be no such compromise
No waiting for players repeatedly asking for control, coping and fixing tools when it’s clearly obvious that is not Andy’s vision for his coaching.
For the remaining 6 weeks of the calendar year I suspect I will drop into the background, engage with my music, my alone time, reflect , write ….and commit to the understanding with renewed perspective as I move into ’24.
For all of you who’ve reached out thru this year, thank you so much for sharing your world. Complete strangers became known to me, those I thought I knew became strangers . (such is the nature of humans falling in and out of their thinking and either reducing the search or ramping it up again)
Andy is very clear where this is heading. Who rides along remains to be seen 🙂
#BluePrint24 – Upstream v Mainstream #ComingNext
Andy
Drop me a line if any of this resonates. Be well
Andy Morrison- Golf InsideOut 