Dr. Rob Bell

Victor Frankl, in the exceptional book, Man’s Search for Meaning, discusses how we find meaning in our lives. Victor Frankl was a prisoner of war in three different concentration camps during WWII. To summarize the story, he developed the notion that we find meaning in three ways 1) doing a deed, 2) experiencing a value, and 3) suffering. Illustrating the final point, his wife died in the camps and his manuscript (a lifetime of work) was discovered years into his containment and destroyed…he had to recreate his experiences and write it only on stolen pieces of paper.

This is a difficult piece to write because some readers will disagree and argue that suffering is not needed, but the reality is that it is a part of life. My position is that enduring suffering is necessary! In an attempt to improve, progress, and properly reflect, we must endure suffering.

At the gym, running or working-out, one can witness most people either listening to music or watching T.V. Fitness centers have created environments to promote these practices such as adding entire movie theatres for people’s cardio sessions. These aforementioned activities are encouraged and actually work, in fact, I support using these acceptable means of “getting in a workout.” These practices are examples of disassociation (distracting the mind to a more pleasant activity). Research has shown that people who employ these techniques are more apt to ADHERE to an exercise program. However, rarely will one witness a high-caliber marathoner or tri-athlete listening to music while on a training run. Just imagine Michael Phelps listening to the newest gadget of underwater head-phones while swimming.So what is wrong with disassociation?

Early Sunday morning tee-times on the PGA and Nationwide tours are usually devoid of large crowds, and prize money is largely pre-determined (Brown, 2007). While the top 15 golfers earn 70% of prize monies, the bottom positions split much smaller sums. In fact, there is not much deviation in prize money from 40^th place and 60^th place on Sunday.

Please note that on the Nationwide tour in particular, the last place finisher will often lose money (expenses) after playing on the weekend! Add the drudgery of upcoming travel and next week’s tournament preparation and there is a noticeable difference of enthusiasm levels on early Sunday mornings. Due to the final day pairings, there is often a solo player first to tee off and with no playing partners, nor slow play in front; the running joke is “how fast will he play?” A two-hour round in these circumstances is not uncommon. Last season, I was mired in conversation on the practice range with the first player off on Sunday. As we discussed the upcoming day, he replied “I have played long enough to know when to turn it on and grind it out.” Basically, today was not going to be that day. Light-switch mentality…

Joe Simpson was alone in the snowy Andes Mountains, had broken his leg and fallen down a 100 foot crevasse. He was suffering from severe dehydration, frostbite, and knew he had a long solo journey to reach safety. He describes in his book Touching the Void how he felt that he had two voices; one voice would daydream, ramble disconnected thoughts, sing song lyrics, while the other mind he labeled the voice.

As he remarkably traversed the mountain by hopping on one leg to his original base camp and safety, it was THE VOICE that had saved him. The voice was essentially his savior and it would tell him what to do and how to do it. “Get moving…don’t lie there…get going…things to be done, don’t think about it…just do it” (p. 159).

Regardless of the sport or situation, we must constantly choose which voice we want to follow.

Have you ever wondered why at this time of year, lawnmowers and swimsuits are on sale? It is the same reason that during the heat of summer that winter hats and space heaters are discounted.

Similarly, on a recent flight over Thanksgiving, while walking in the airport, I noticed people arriving from their vacation in Jamaica. What had caught my attention was the inordinate amount of people coming off the flight wearing shorts!! (Please note the current weather at Indianapolis airport was 43’ and raining). The reason why these vacationers were so blissful to the outside conditions is the same reason why promotions work so well. Most of us do not have proper perspective