I'm glad you asked. It suddenly became very obvious to me. I can't always tell if others get it.Kevin wrote:
Not sure I know what you're referring to here Bill?? Can you explain? I do think that one who masters juggling with some added complications while juggling can go into a state of mind where they focus on the task at hand. Using the power of the mind can be tricky but very interesting.
Bill can you please explain how exercise or juggling effects the body. What happens to you physiologically that relieves the stress?
What do target shooting, juggling, and open heart surgery share? All three are highly-developed fine and/or complex motor coordination skills. All three degrade rapidly under stress. So, why then would we do them to relieve stress? What's up with that?
The first step in stress management is recognizing it is there in the first place. Some people have absolutely no idea. They suffer from chronic stress for years, and understand it only when many of the serious ailments associated with middle age start to creep in (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, gastric reflux, etc.).
What these activities do is offer the equivalent of biofeedback. When we are stressed, we can't shoot at the side of a barn door. LEOs and the military know their shooting degrades under the survival stress response. They overcompensate by training with smaller-than-life-size targets, and they practice, practice, practice. Personally with cardiac surgery I learned I could not have caffeine on the days when I was performing surgery. My first caffeinated beverage was consumed just after my surgery and just before the first data run. It was my personal reward for a good experimental prep.
And I have done just enough juggling to realize the fine/complex motor coordination involved in doing it.Basically what you serendipitously learn to maximize your performance is to manage the stress that degrades it. Either you do that, or you ****** at your shooting, juggling, and surgery. Trial and error teaches you what to do and what state of mind you need to perform. And the more you practice and experiment with that state of mind, the more you stumble on "the zone." Soon you learn what it takes to get there quickly. And then the next thing you know, the activity itself induces the calm state you need to perform - by association.
Make sense?
It's like those tension/relaxation exercises psychologists teach along with imagining a beach scene. With enough practice you learn just to think of the beach scene and your stress level drops precipitously.
But this takes PRACTICE!
- Bill
