Notes on Mental Toughness

Just thought I'd post this in this thread, it's related http://www.tommyangelo.com/articles/betcha_cant.htm

Excellent bump, and excellent thread. Only downside from reading this, I'm now conscious of itching pretty much everywhere, and trying hard to get better at poker, well, I feel a fresh itch coming up in a place I never knew I even had....

Originally Posted by spoonitnow

Just thought I'd post this in this thread, it's related //www.tommyangelo.com/articles/betcha_cant.htm]Betcha Can't

Very nice. Since I had no idea what to expect, I called the flop bet without thinking too clearly (and how many times have I done that before <grumble>). However, once I folded and realised why, I believe I became just a little better at poker in that instant which is what I am striving for.

Off to Amazon now to see if I can track down his book mentioned above now.

Hmm, as I've been focusing on writing the itching seems to have stopped too

Originally Posted by The Norg

Excellent bump, and excellent thread. Only downside from reading this, I'm now conscious of itching pretty much everywhere, and trying hard to get better at poker, well, I feel a fresh itch coming up in a place I never knew I even had....



Very nice. Since I had no idea what to expect, I called the flop bet without thinking too clearly (and how many times have I done that before <grumble>). However, once I folded and realised why, I believe I became just a little better at poker in that instant which is what I am striving for.

Off to Amazon now to see if I can track down his book mentioned above now.

Hmm, as I've been focusing on writing the itching seems to have stopped too

You can get a Kindle reader for your PC (or Mac, I think) and get the Kindle version for like $9.

Love this personal development stuff.

Reminds me of the Sedona Method - learning to 'release' emotions. The idea is to accept emotions, rather than try to deny or bottle them, which only causes problems down the track.

Whenever you feel an emotion, there are basic questions you ask yourself:

- Can I allow myself to accept this feeling?
- Can I allow myself to let go of this feeling?
- Will I let go of this feeling?
- When?

It doesn't matter what the answers are, addressing these questions is designed to make yourself aware of your emotions and learning to accept them for what they are. Impostors.

Sounds like a load of wank, and probably not for everyone, but it always helps me feel at ease.

For poker, I guess this would include emotions like ego, anger, pride, frustration etc.

Even positive emotions like the elation of winning need to be checked. Just accept your emotions, release them and move on with your life.

Only then can you live your life to the fullest, poker included.

Originally Posted by 3bet72o

snip

I remember reading about this a few months ago. We've always known that bottling emotions is a terrible strategy, but a prevalent idea has been that channeling them is therapeutic. You know, like stepping outside and screaming or taking it out on a punching bag. I've always had doubts about that, particularly when it comes to anger. Maybe people will get the idea that it's okay to get enraged at every little thing because you have a nice safe outlet for it. Maybe those techniques actually condition you to get angry more often. Or what if it becomes a crutch and you find yourself in a situation where you can't use your outlet?

The technique you describe seems much more reasonable, but also more difficult.

Originally Posted by grnydrowave2

I remember reading about this a few months ago. We've always known that bottling emotions is a terrible strategy, but a prevalent idea has been that channeling them is therapeutic. You know, like stepping outside and screaming or taking it out on a punching bag. I've always had doubts about that, particularly when it comes to anger. Maybe people will get the idea that it's okay to get enraged at every little thing because you have a nice safe outlet for it. Maybe those techniques actually condition you to get angry more often. Or what if it becomes a crutch and you find yourself in a situation where you can't use your outlet?

The technique you describe seems much more reasonable, but also more difficult.

The beauty of Sedona is that you don't even need to channel emotions as such... no screaming out, punching bags etc...

It's getting back to the original post - "being at peace with discomfort".

For me, I feel anger far less if anything. It's more a case of accepting these feelings, and just letting it go... I know this all sounds esoteric and hard to define, but one technique might work for one person, while useless for another.... I tried EFT, but didn't get a whole lot from it, while Sedona was life-changing. Then again, lots of people swear by EFT and that's cool.

Another thing to be aware of when crapping on about Sedona and other techniques is to avoid preaching and sounding like I'm a better person for doing this.... that's the ego at work too...