On Discipline, Commitment and Enlightenment
I often receive emails asking me to promote one thing or another and, just as often, I discard them.
Occasionally, a gem lands in my inbox and results in a good story, such as my recent interview with Mark Frost, author of The Match, one of the best golf books I have ever read.
Sometimes something strikes a chord and is worth passing on, even though there is no "story", per se.
A case in point is the email I received from the American Lung Association the other day asking me to assist them in spreading the word about their new discount golf card which offers deals on greens fees, range fees and other good stuff.
Money raised from sales of the card goes to help the ALA in its preventative battle to get people to quit smoking before the addiction kills them.
I am happy to do that today, especially since the discount cards are great deals.
If you live in the United States, visit this site for further information and help the ALA battle a completely unnecessary and often fatal habit.
Vijay Singh is not a smoker as far as I know. However, he is a practitioner of Zen (how's that for a segue?).
Zen is a branch of buddhism which promotes a direct experience of self through meditation and results in spiritual enlightenment (something the world could use a helluva lot more of. See the results of the Bali Conference on Climate Change or the war in Iraq, for example).
At any rate, Singh is a huge believer and maintains in an article in the Khaleej Times, a Dubai newspaper, that it has helped him immensely.
There's no doubt watching Singh on a practice range at a tournament how loose and relaxed he appears, as if nothing really mattered at all (of course, in Buddhism nothing really DOES matter).
Singh has not always come across as a guy centered within himself at all times but no one's perfect.
Of course, if Zen Buddhism doesn't do it for you, you can always try marriage. Colin Montgomerie is tying the knot next April ("trying that again", he said recently. He's such a romantic).
And Greg Norman has become engaged to Chris Evert. It's her third kick at the can and Norman's second, coming very soon after his much publicized, messy and hugely expensive divorce.
So, you can practice the discipline of self-denial and put into your body only that which is good (NOT cigarettes), the discipline of Zen Buddhism and find yourself or the fine art of relationship commitment and discover true happiness with another.
It's all good. And sooner or later, it has to have a positive impact on your golf game!