Keith Jensen: “Be Water, My Friend”

Keith Jensen: “Be Water, My Friend”


Here’s round 2 of Ginebra rookie Keith Jensen’s Slam journal entry.

“Be Water, My Friend”
By Keith Jensen

This season, we’ve experienced a lot of ups and downs. We won 2 in a
row, lost 5 straight, and then won 4. We’ve become a streaky team¬¬—and
it’s quite a roller coaster ride.

Being present to the journey, I’ve noticed that as a team we tend to
get high or low on ourselves depending on how our season has been going.
Coach acknowledged this after a lackluster effort in the first half
against Rain or Shine during which we went down by 20 points. He pointed
out that we had become lazy in practice after winning previous games
and said, “We’re starting to think we’re better than we really are!”

It’s a common mental trap that naturally seduces the minds of
athletes. Players and teams will become attached to the idea of winning;
entangling themselves in the duality of the game. Self-identifying as a
“winner” or “loser” blocks the ability to have an objective
perspective, and lures people away from acting and reacting in the
present moment.

Bruce Lee came to this truth. He said, “Empty the mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water…”

You cannot fit the preconceived form of “winner” or “loser” into the shape of a new game.

Winning cannot be the reason to play. Yes, losing can be incredibly
painful. But it can also be beautiful: when the lesson in the loss is
recognized and the agony of losing is contrasted with the ecstasy of
winning. It is this excitement, the energetic charge, caused by the coin
flip of winning and losing, that makes the game so fun. The glory lies
in the Yin and the Yang. The highs and the lows are experienced as the
thrill—the very reason we ride the roller coaster in the first place.

“Running water never goes stale. You gotta just keep on flowing.” –Bruce Lee


SLAM.PH

Ginebra San Miguel are known to be humble in victory and gracious in defeat! I always hear this quote from the Big-J, the senator himself in the earliest of 1980's to their first ever teams championship title run in 1986 with imports Michael Hackett and Billy "the Black-Superman" Ray Bates against the formidable counterparts Manila Beer until I personally met him in 2006. He was a legend indeed.--AI