Written by: Stefan Peter, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Pro Soccer Player, as well as non-athletes desire fulfillment in life. Fulfillment includes every aspect of life. It includes our career, our health, our partnerships and everything else in between.
Fulfillment is what we really strive for
When athletes truly love what they do, they feel a deep sense of fulfillment and happiness that goes beyond winning. Everything goes easy and a sense of flow is what we can experience. Maybe this is what you feel like when you look at your bank account, a measure of success in your career. But maybe in other areas of your life you feel a blockage and you feel like you could be more healthy or your partnership could be more fulfilled, or anything else.
As a first step: If you genuinely love and enjoy what you do, you're on the path to finding fulfillment. Love and enjoyment is when your mind and heart are pulling into the same direction.
Studies have found that when athletes have a strong mind-body connection driven by genuine passion, they have a better and more successful athletic journey with fewer injuries.
But how do I find joy?
By finding joy in their pursuit of greatness, athletes can thrive and reach their full potential. By transforming what is into what should be, one experiences fulfillment and joy. Tony Robbins also describes 9 great ways how to find more joy and they can be a great start and a good reminder for you also. Follow this link to find out what Tony recommends.
When athletes love their sport or activity, they focus on the intrinsic rewards rather than seeking validation from others. This passion ignites a fire within them, driving them to overcome challenges with a positive outlook. It makes the journey towards success more meaningful, enjoyable, and fulfilling.
Let us focus on one key principle in order to understand how important it is to bring our mind and our heart in coherence if we want to find fulfillment.
The Mind-Body Connection
The connection between the mind and body is crucial for athletes' well-being. Emotions and thoughts affect how our bodies respond, and constant stress or negative feelings can lead to physical reactions known as psychosomatic responses.
Dr. Sarno speaks in this context of the mind body syndrome. When our chosen path in life does not match our heart's desires, then the risk of our body becoming ill increases extremely. An illness or an injury is never a punishment, it is there to make us aware something is not going right in our life, so that we can start to change from within. Our success, our circumstances, our health - basically every reality that manifests in our external world is based on our internal thoughts and emotions. Everything in our external world needs a cause and this cause is within us. This is called the mirror principle.
Creating a strong vision full of joy and positive energy can transform this and promote a positive balance within us. This way athletes can better deal with stress and high pressure situations, therefore also reducing the risk of injuries caused by tensed muscles and tendons caused by stress and too much pressure.
The most important thing if you want to perform better, is to become aware of your emotions. Yes – your emotions
To look inwards is crucial. Not to push away your emotions and feelings is what we need to learn. To learn how to become still is what will enable you to listen to your inner voice again and see the path in front of you, that is now hidden.
What really blocks you and your performance as a pro soccer player, as an athlete, but also as a non-athlete are your subconscious emotions, your subconscious patterns and your subconscious beliefs, that lie within you.
If you really want to perform better AND feel fulfillment and what I call performance joy, your first step always needs to be to become aware of your limiting emotions and subconscious blockages.
Only then it makes sense to learn how to set goals, improve nutrition, increase self-confidence or how to get fitter.
As hard as it sounds, you have to stop standing on your own feet if you want to take a step forward.
How can you find out if you are blocking yourself?
Look through this list consciously and be honest with yourself. Which questions do you still have to answer with yes?
I have trouble to deal with failure or celebrate my “wins”
I have unhealthy relationships with coaches, teammates, friends, family, my partner etc.
I avoiding love in general
I am unable to make my own decisions and always need other opinions
I have obsessive or addictive self-sabotaging behaviors
I am underachieving
I am overthinking
I practice a lot of negative self-talk
I often feel guilty, ashamed or in pain
I constantly overwork or overpower myself
I often feeling very exhausted and drained
I feel the need to achieve in order to deserve love
I feel the need to perform to be approved or to belong
I have problems being present in the moment and get easily distracted
I often talk about others or blame others for my own failures
I constantly change my environment or partners to feel better
I make others responsible for my happiness
I suffer chronic symptoms, injuries or illnesses
If you can answer yes to 3 or more questions, then you know that you are standing in your own way and therefore cannot perform better. But try to look at it positively, because this also means that as soon as you transform, joy and fulfillment will follow, and at the same time your performance curve will go up.
If you want to find out more about how to transform inner blockages as a soccer player or an athlete, feel free to get in touch.
Stefan Peter, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Stefan Peter is an expert in personal development. He works mainly with international athletes and coaches in the fields of Soccer, Tennis, Basketball and American Football. His own experience with depression as a young athlete, after the death of his father, inspired him to become a coach and a mentor to athletes in similar situations. His major passion is to empower people to unlock their full performance potential and (re)discover inner fulfillment and performance joy. He is the creator of the 4 steps Emotionset-Method and holds a Masters Degree in Sports Health and Leadership.
