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Bowling Alley Wisdom Part V

In case you missed part IV, you’ll find it here:

Bowling Alley Wisdom Part IV: The Ball

Lesson #5: The Foul Line

There is line at the end between the approach part of the lane and the alley itself. This is the foul line and may not be crossed. The penalty for breaching the foul line is a loss of all pins knocked down with that ball. Additionally, a very obnoxious alarm sounds and a red light glows to let everyone around you know that you have crossed the foul line.

Why does a bowler cross the line?

  • he lined up too close to the line and didn’t leave sufficient distance for his preparation, his approach
  • she got overzealous and lost control during her approach and simply went too far
  • he is a beginner and still developing the skill and coordination needed to deliver the ball smoothly from behind the line
  • she suffered an equipment malfunction in her body and simply wasn’t herself at delivery

How does the foul line and its alarm show up and guide us in life? I suspect the responses are many! Here are a few:

  • speed limits … and red lights in the mirror
  • assignments from teachers or coaches designed to help us succeed at the “next step” on the path
  • social graces which help us navigate relationships and which, when ignored, sometimes set off big, painful “alarms”

What are the foul lines in your life?
Which have you crossed?
What caused you to cross the line?
What was the impact?

Which foul lines have become too restrictive?
What will you do about that?

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Bowling Alley Wisdom Part IV

In case you missed part III, you’ll find it here:

Bowling Alley Wisdom Part III: The Arrows

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Lesson #4: The Ball

The primary tool in bowling is the ball. You will need to select the right combination of

  • weight – not too heavy that you can’t throw it, not too light that it has no impact
  • finger hole configuration – does it match YOUR hand?

When the ball is “just right”, it is an extension of your arm, you release it smoothly and on target (remember the arrows?) and it carries just right energy, spin and direction to hit the pins and have wide reaching impact as pins knock down other pins.

In life:

What tools are you using to do the work?
Do you trust that the tools have power when well chosen
and released with intention?

Or do you choose a hammer when a love pat will do the job? Maybe your tool is a great idea but you refuse to let it go and allow others to “take it and run with it”.  Perhaps you are using tools, workshop outlines, meeting strategies, parenting techniques, that simply aren’t a match for who you are.  In this way, you are less effective and are actually hiding your light from the world.

What tools are ineffective?
What will you release and replace?
What if you don’t?

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Bowling Alley Wisdom Part III

In case you missed part II, you’ll find it here:

Bowling Alley Wisdom Part II: The Spare

Lesson #3: The Arrows

A bowling alley is simply a  wooden lane, 60 feet long from the foul line to the head  pin. It is 42 inches wide. When the bowler sets up to throw a ball, she first looks at the pins remaining and decides where the ball needs to make contact in order to have the best chance at knocking them down. Then, she uses the arrows, which are much closer, and decides how the ball needs to be thrown in order to hit the pins appropriately. The arrows serve as guides. The bowler actually aims at (or between) the arrows, NOT the pins.

In life, we have many sets of pins, many goals that we journey toward. When the goal is big, it usually requires that we move toward it in steps, with each step having its own focal point, or arrow, that we aim at. When our aim is too far down the road (or the alley!), many things can happen:

  • our execution misses the mark
  • we aren’t clear how to get there so we fail to act
  • we waste a lot of energy going nowhere

So what are life’s “arrows”?

  • the many small steps which, when navigated successfully, help us arrive at our goals
  • those who have gone before us and offer wisdom which guides us
  • our own intuition which can be a powerful guide when we pause to listen

What goal is too big for a single step?
What arrows have you missed?
What guidance is available?
What will you listen to?

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Bowling Alley Wisdom Part II

In case you missed part I, you’ll find it here:

Bowling Alley Wisdom Part I: The Second Chance

Lesson #2: The Spare

What’s really amazing about the second chance in bowling is this: you get rewarded for succeeding the second time! Yes, even after a total miss with ball #1 (a gutter ball), if your second chance results in all ten pins going down, not only do you score ten points, but you get bonus points from the next frame. I’m not kidding!

If you trusted that giving yourself a second chance or offering that gift to another would result in bonus points, or healing, or forgiveness, or possibility, I ask again:

Where will you give yourself or another a second chance?

Add to that:

What will be possible then?
What vision makes the second chance SO worth it?

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Bowling Alley Wisdom Part I

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Yesterday I went bowling with friend. The purpose was simply to have some fun. And we did! But so much joy came from moment after moment of awareness as we discovered metaphors for life in our strikes and spares and fouls!

So, after a month of space and inward reflection, I have returned to you – not with wisdom born of meditation. Rather, wisdom born of play! If you have never bowled, perhaps it’s time to try it out – if only so you can follow the next several posts as bowling alley wisdom unfolds.

Lesson #1: The Second Chance

Bowling is a game with ten “frames”. Every frame offers two chances at knocking down the 10 pins. Not just one, TWO! The only exception is the 10th frame where you get up to three chances. How nice is that?

Back to the second chance. It’s okay not to get it right the first time. Most of the time you won’t! What’s not okay is walking away before using the second chance to apply what you learned the first time.

Where will you give yourself a second chance?
What did you learn the first time?
Who else in your life needs a second chance?