Guest post from my friend and fellow practioner Arden Compton.

See www.ardencompton.com

Unexpected Success – Bowling

A few years ago I took my family bowling.  The bowling alley here in Brigham City was giving away a turkey to anyone who bowled 3 strikes in a row.  So, off we went to try our luck.  Now, I am not a serious bowler; throughout my life, I have probably gone bowling about once a year … maybe less.  I usually bowl somewhere between 100 and 120.  If I get over 120, it is a good game for me – if I get into the 130's – that's a really good game.

So, getting three strikes in a row wasn't likely – I might get 2 or 3 strikes in a game, but not in a row.  In my first frame, I knocked over 8 pins, not bad.  But I thought about how fun it would be to win a turkey and I decided to try some EFT.  On my next turn, as I held the ball in my right hand, I tapped with my left hand on the face points and repeated in my mind, This fear of not making a strike.

It took a little over five seconds to tap through that.  This time I bowled a spare (meaning I knocked all the pins over in two tries), but was only one pin away from getting a strike.  Each turn for the rest of the game, I went through the same tapping process.  The next frame I bowled a strike!  But on my next turn two frames I bowled a spare – I needed three strikes in a row.

I was feeling pretty good about my game at this point; I was on track to an above-average score for me.  Then the next frame I bowled a strike, and the following frame I bowled another strike!  At this point I did a little tapping before my next turn, there was a little pressure because I was going for the turkey on this one.  I tapped on Fear of messing up the third strike ” fear of not getting a strike. I also tapped five seconds or so after I picked up my ball.  And sure enough, I got a third strike!

I was so excited, I yelled loud enough for everyone in the bowling alley to hear me, "I won a turkey!"  My wife and kids all gave me high fives.  I ran over to the desk and had all the bowling alley employees give me a high five, there were some friends of mine several lanes down, I ran over to them and had them give me high fives.  So, the next time I got the ball I tapped again, and I got another strike!  Four in a row!  And then I got another strike, and another one, and another one!  Seven strikes in a row by the time the game ended.  I bowled a 236, 100 points beyond what I thought would be a really good game.  Our friends even asked me to come bowl on their lane so I could help them win a turkey.  On their lane, I bowled another strike.

However, I started having some uncertainty because I didn't think the bowling alley wanted me to win a turkey for other people – thus the next frame I ended the streak with a spare.  I excused that by saying, "The ball slipped from my fingers," which it had, but I am almost certain it was because of those inner doubts about winning a turkey for someone else that I "sabotaged" it.

As I look at what allowed me to have this unexpected success, the first thing was I thought about how fun it would be to win a turkey. I wasn’t worried about embarrassing myself by not winning a turkey, I had nothing to loose.  If I bowled my usual game and didn’t win a turkey, so what? Not a concern. But the idea of winning a turkey just felt really fun, and that raised my vibration.

Something I wasn’t not consciously aware of at the time was that when I considered bowling a turkey, and the idea “felt fun”, at some level I saw myself winning the turkey, and believed it enough that I felt the fun sensation, I felt my vibration raise. If I had seen it in my minds eye with absolutely no belief, it would not have created that fun emotion, I would have felt doubt, or stress, or possibly nothing. But given that the idea felt fun, at some level I saw it happening and enjoyed that experience before it happened. This was not at a conscious level; if you asked me, “Do you think you can bowl a turkey?” I probably would have answered, “I don’t know, never have, but it would be fun.”

Then I used EFT to help calm me and remove fear of not getting a strike. These two things helped me bowl a spare, a strike, and then two more spares.  This was really good for me, and my excitement level rose, I was doing good! The bowling pins were always willing to cooperate, they always obeyed the laws of physics.  As I raised my vibration with more joy and excitement, and the bowling pins yielded and began falling down every time I rolled the ball down the lane.  Everything came together in support of this higher energy.

Something else interesting is that I had not set a goal to bowl eight strikes in a row. I simply thought about how fun it would be to win turkey, removed my fear of not making a strike, and the results were much better than I would have considered possible. People attach a lot of unnecessary conditions to success; they think they have to work hard for long periods of time, they have to stress, they have to practice a lot. Now, I have to be careful here, I am not saying we shouldn’t practice or work hard, but in the end that is not what is most important in success.  Loving what you are doing and enjoying what you are doing is much more important for your success than your work ethic or your skill level.  I had not done my due diligence to bowl eight strikes in a row; I had not been working hard, I had not been practicing, I did not have the skill level to do that. I only thought of it after I started bowling. But in that moment when I unwittingly raised my vibration by imagining how fun it would be and removed all fear, everything came together for me.  All the elements honored this higher vibration; even the elements of my body led me to send the ball down the lane at a skill level far above my own.  So, whatever we are we are working towards in life, we need to make sure we are loving the present moment, excited about what we are doing in the present moment, and look forward with hope. We may not know exactly what the results will be, in fact we need to be completely unattached as to what the results will be. When we are in a state of love and joyful anticipation, enjoying the present moment, unattached to what the results will be, things turn out better than we could possibly plan or orchestrate on our own. All things are possible!

Something else that is interesting is that since this I bowled 8 strikes in a row, I have gone bowling maybe a half a dozen times. I used ascribe my success to the fact that I had tapped on ‘fear of not making a strike’ before each turn. However, each of the times since then my score has been back to where it was before, somewhere between 100 and 120, even though I tapped in much the same way. How come I wasn’t able to repeat the success?

First, I worried about failure, I felt I had something to prove.  I wasn’t happily thinking about success, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do it again. Also, I was very attached to the results of roll of the ball, I needed it to be a strike, and it rarely was. I wasn’t thinking about how fun it would be to bowl a turkey, I had some fear if I couldn’t repeat the process it would discredit me and EFT. So, I wasn’t anywhere near the vibration I had when I bowled 8 strikes in a row. Instead of being happy and feeling good, I was worried and concerned. Both times the laws of physics cooperated with my vibration, supported my vibration. What I thought gave me success the first time (EFT tapping) was really only a minor part of the equation, otherwise I would have experienced more success on subsequent trips to the bowling alley.  What made the biggest difference with me not caring about the results, but being excited about the idea of winning a turkey and enjoying the present moment.