Is Judgment the Enemy?

“It is hard to make the boat go as fast as you want to. The enemy of course is resistance of water, as you have to displace the amount of water equal to the weight of men and equipment, but that very water is what supports you and that very enemy is your friend. So is life: the very problem you must overcome also supports you and makes you stronger in overcoming them.” George Pocock

I laminated and put this quote on my table at the Stotesbury. It was my first regatta “peddling my wares” and wanted to display something that would pique the rowers interest enough to stop and hear about what I was offering. Admittedly, I thought a quote from George Pocock would give me some legitimacy, but I also found the quote to speak deeply to Power With Presence’s purpose.

To make the boat go fast we must be paying attention to the present moment, meaning paying attention to what is going on outside of us such as the environment, water, boat, boatmates and inside of us (body sensation, movement, thoughts/feelings) and how the outside and inside of us interact and unfold moment to moment.  The key to staying in the present moment is an attitude of non judgment. When we start to judge whatever is happening as good/bad, enemy/friend our attention is no longer in the present moment. Judgment often creeps in when something in our experience is not like we want it to be, maybe our stroke feels “off”.  Instead of staying curious, expanding our awareness to see what else we notice, we constrict and judge it. “This is bad”, “What is wrong with me”, “I am sloppy”, “I am no good”.  When something is not how we want it to be we all have those habits of mind we play. Whereas if we stayed present, seeing what else we notice, we may have noticed our oar lock was backwards, fixed it and thus closer to our goal of making the boat go faster. 

 While I realize this is a simple example, it illustrates the point of how our judging can get in the way of achieving our goals. How often does this happen in life, something occurs, we judge it, often as wrong/bad and our attention leaves the present moment to ruminate, blame or avoid, rather than staying present. Staying present helps us see more clearly what is needed in that moment to move closer to our goals. The judgment takes us further away. Our attention and therefore our time and energy are spent in negative self talk, stories acting as facts and unproven beliefs. We find ourselves in a pile of mud, wheels spinning.

Maybe the enemy is the judgment.  Problems, challenges, conditions arise on the water and in life that we often cannot control.  If we stay present, expand our awareness the more informed and clearer we are on what is needed in the next moment.  We may not overcome the problem in that moment, but we are one step closer, growing our resourcefulness, expanding our repertoire of responses that best serves us. 

I recently read about the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo and the showdown between Men’s 8 Ratzeburg from West Germany and the US entry Vesper Boat Club of Philadelphia. The conditions were difficult, going off after dark on choppy water and a howling headwind.  While the two boats were considered equal in physical ability, they may have been different in mental ability. Ratzeburg rowed in a well-protected lake, thought to have 200 days a year of good conditions. For Vesper, who practiced on the Schuylkill, conditions were not that.  Vesper, in order to train, had to stay present and respond to the conditions they were presented with and thus develop the resources to make the boat go fast despite rough conditions.  Vesper ended up winning Olympic gold, beating Germany by 5 seconds. The Germans said the race was invalid due to conditions and that they were really faster.  Controversy continued until a showdown 9 months later at the Henley Royal Regatta, with conditions much more favorable conditions.  Ratzeburg won by nearly half a length, thus gaining some vindication I suppose. 

In life how often do we get a “do over” when conditions meet our demands. Nobody has a life without some rough waters. Unfavorable conditions arise. What better serves us in life or any endeavor, trying to fix change or wait for conditions that are favorable to us, or developing resources to respond to the unexpected, unfavorable.  Practicing paying non judgemental attention can help us do that-it just takes practice!