On Par With The Law Of Attraction
Louis Oosthuizen. Ever heard of him?
Most people haven’t.
Even my golf-obsessed husband hadn’t heard of him … until this weekend.
The British Open Golf Tournament started in Scotland on Thursday and ended today. It’s a big deal in the golf world, one of the four “majors,” (most important tournaments), and at the start of the tournament, the golf world had its focus on the big players like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
Louis Oosthuizen (pronounced west-hi-zen—the Open announcers were so unfamiliar with him they didn’t get it right) didn’t care what the rest of the world was focused on. He was focused on winning.
A virtual unknown, this South African player blasted through the pack of favorites to get in second place at the end of the first day of play. The second day, he was in first place, where he stayed. He stayed so far in the lead the rest of the way that today the tournament, according to ESPN writer, Gene Wojciechowski,“was a par-5 beyond boring. It was so maddeningly dull that you wanted to stick the sharp end of barbecue tongs in your eyes.”
Louis ran away with it. Mr. Nobody won handily.
Doing the Underdog Dance
Louis’s “shocking” success isn’t at all surprising when you understand the law of attraction. He got his win because of three things, three things that came together like the steps in a victory dance: knowing and focus and feeling.
1. Knowing
If he’d been limited by what was and wasn’t possible, Louis would never have even been a professional golfer. His poor farmer father couldn’t afford the instruction, travel, and equipment Louis needed to pursue his dream.
But Louis wasn’t paying attention to what was possible. All he knew was that he wanted to play golf. And the power of that knowing was strong enough to attract “a life-changing break;” he was accepted into the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation, which gave him the financial resources he needed to develop into a professional golfer.
2. Focus
The weather conditions at the British Open the last four days were ideal for golf. Steady 25 to 35 m.p.h winds and rain assaulted the players. While the other players struggled with the weather, Louis zeroed in on the part that he liked. Louis “loves playing in wind.” Rain? No, he doesn’t like rain. But he ignored the rain. He focused on the wind. The wind was his friend.
3. Feeling
When Louis took the lead in the tournament, the announcers wanted to know if it made him nervous. Was he afraid he’d blow the lead?
No way.
“I’m going to have fun with it,” Louis said.
Learning From Louis
Even when we know about the law of attraction, we have a tendency to stay attuned to what is “possible.” We’re stuck in these little grooves of things called “favorites” and “odds” and “past performance.”
We look around and see what someone else had to do to achieve success. It was a “long, hard road.” He “paid his dues.”
We forget that none of that is necessary. Nothing that has come before has relevance to what we want to do now unless we put our focus on it and give it relevance.
We can win any “tournament” we want to win, achieve any goal we want, take any trophy. The law of attraction will bring us anything we want. We only have to do three things: know that we can do what we want to do, focus on the positive in our lives now, and have fun.
It’s that simple. Not easy. But simple. Louis showed us how simple it can be.
Thanks to Louis, I’m inspired to do my own underdog dance. Just watch me. One of these days, my novel series will be on the bestseller’s list. I’ll be one of those “nobodies” who “came out of nowhere.”
How about you? What’s your story? Tell us what you’re going to do; tell us your “came out of nowhere story.” Then go out there and do your underdog dance.
Related Posts:
She Won The Lottery On Purpose
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Photo (it’s not Louis) by Steven Newton on Flickr.
Tags: british open, came out of nowhere, Golf, Law of Attraction, louis oosthuuizen, manifesting, underdog, winning
July 19th, 2010 at 11:24 am
I love this story! I’ve only recently hit my first ever golf ball in life, thanks to a friend and mentor who constantly challenges me to get outside my comfort zone. I think it’s a great analogy to LOA because often it’s when we’re out there surprising ourselves with something new that we realize just how limiting our minds can be day to day. “Reality” is all about what’s possible, in painstaking detail that can suck the life right out of any dream. In the words of a great Mythbuster, “I reject your reality and substitute my own!” Seems like this golfer had made up his mind to enjoy his tournament, befriend the elements, and concentrate his strengths where they best served him – none of which would have seemed like enough to pull off what he did. But there it is again – living proof that LOA needs no reality, statistics, odds-in-our-favor, etc. to come through every time.
I’m personally working on several unrealistic dreams at the moment – and have every expecting that they will work out grandly.
laura
Scent Magic´s last blog ..New Age Mama Reviews Scentsy
July 19th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
That’s a really good point about the effect of doing something new, Scent Magic. I had the same experience when I started drawing. I thought, “Wow, I didn’t know I could do this. What else can I do that I thought I couldn’t do?” It’s very empowering. Have fun playing with your unrealistic dreams. I’m sure they WILL work out grandly.
July 20th, 2010 at 8:51 am
Several years ago I took one of those tests that are supposed to point you in the right direction for a career. The woman who read the results to me told me that I was artistic. Hm, I couldn’t draw a stick figure! Obviously, this test was in error. It wasn’t for at least 20 years that I realized that being artistic doesn’t necessarily mean drawing (although maybe I should try!). I’ve spent that last six months remodeling my house (kitchen addition downstairs/bedroom and bath upstairs) and discovered that I do have an eye for color and style. Go figure! Pre-disposed notions tend to limit our decisions and ultimately our life choices. Too bad. My goal is to keep my mind open to all outlandish possibilities from now on
By the way, my new kitchen is amazing!!!
Nancy
July 20th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Outlandish possibilities–YES! And you’re right, your new kitchen IS amazing. I can attest to your eye for color and style.
July 21st, 2010 at 9:41 am
Just thought you might like to see this from the Field Center. Great stuff and very useful.
Quote from The Field Center: The “Art of Betrayal”
“I love the paradoxical nature of Field training. It seems to me that its recognition and incorporation of paradox give it a maturity I have yet to find in other models that offer to instruct in how to create our lives consciously. Those who have taken our Course will recognize the central and recurring role of paradox, evident in Field training statements such as, “Everything happens backwards,” “You can have whatever you want as long as you already have it,” “The reaction comes first,” and others. Paradox isn’t easy for the mind to grasp; in fact, it doesn’t much care for it at all. Yet, there is an honesty in it, a refusal to settle for oversimplification and formula, and this leaves me feeling proud of Field training the way one might feel proud of a daughter or son who embodies a deep and abiding integrity. We don’t teach “Visualize this and affirm it” and all that. We point out that we can create whatever we’re willing to live up to, that we have to do more than see the fulfillment we want; we have to be it. And this leads to betrayal, as an art. The art of betrayal is a twin to the art of trust. Both begin with an understanding that one already is engaged in them. In that regard, we have no choice. We’re already trusting and already betraying something; it’s just a question of what. So, when someone emails or calls, and the complaint is that the person is afraid to trust, usually I point out that he or she is trusting the fear. This works wonders. Moving from not-trusting to trusting is huge, an impossible leap across a chasm of contradiction. Moving from trusting something you don’t want to trust (e.g., fear) to something you do (e.g., that things work out), on the other hand, is only a slight midcourse correction, a matter of a few degrees. Suddenly, the student has awakened from the reality-dream “I am not trusting” to one in which the desired condition of trust is already being fulfilled, even if less than skillfully (“I am trusting, but trusting fear.”) The burden of proof has shifted: “Since I’m already trusting, why not trust something better than fear?” The question is, of course, rhetorical. We can be conscious in our betrayals. This can fall hard on the ear; we’re so used to betray meaning “to deceive or double-cross.” It helps to look at the etymology. Betray comes from the Latin for “hand over or deliver up to,” in the sense, most curiously, of “entrust,” which explains why the same root occurs in the word tradition—something handed over or entrusted to future generations. Paradoxically, to betray is to entrust to. While standard dictionaries provide several meanings for betray, all but one involve some breach of confidence. The one, more innocent meaning is “to reveal,” as in, “Her sudden smile betrayed her true feelings.” This turns out to be useful. Slip it into contexts where the meaning is assumed to be pejorative, and something interesting is betrayed (revealed). For example, in Christianity, there is the idea that “Judas betrayed Jesus.” So, Judas revealed Jesus, pointed him out, handed him over—not in the sense of double-crossing him—but in the sense of acknowledging him. Metaphysically, Jesus represents identity (I AM) and “salvation” (fulfillment). Judas, then, would represent desire. What we desire betrays who we are. It brings it to light. It also betrays the next better version of us, the one we could be, in fulfillment of the desire. In these terms, the “Jesus and Judas” of consciousness “save” us. They deliver us from lack into greater life. All through artful betrayal.
To betray artfully means to take seriously those things that reveal our identifications, and make better choices. It means to entrust the self only to those things that suit us—and most importantly, in practice, to remain true to the better betrayal we’ve chosen.”
July 21st, 2010 at 4:26 pm
I like this. The key is to betray our true selves, becoming who we want to be before we see the evidence of it in the physical world.