The Game Is Over
You can change your life by changing your mind
“If in a quiet moment, you can see thoughts come and go, feelings come and go, agitation come and go, then when you see [the nature of your mind] …. the game’s over.” - Pat Croce, entrepreneur and former owner of the Philadelphia 76ers
Hello friends,
I hope your lives and work are in flow and in service.
I had not intended to take so long off the newsletter, but my time has been much occupied with my coaching clients, my Zen Center, the podcast, and family. I’d like to catch you up on some things I have been working on, but instead of putting it all in one newsletter, I’ll write shorter ones more frequently over the next couple of weeks.
For today I want to turn you on to our latest episode of the Game of Zen, an interview with Pat Croce, former owner of the Philadelphia 76’ers basketball team. (Auspicious timing, since the NBA season just started on Tuesday. :) I think it is our best episode yet.
Pat has had an amazing career and an amazing life. He started as a trainer with the Sixers, became a successful entrepreneur, and eventually bought the team. Talk about going from the mail room to the C-Suite! Now 68 years old, he reflects on his career, and how driven he was…. until he had what he calls a spiritual awakening nine years ago, which totally transformed his outlook on life.
His great insight came about when he learned that his view of things were almost entirely mental constructs, and these could be changed. Once he learned how to do this, and he worked to re-establish contact with his deeper nature, then “the game was over.” That’s the social game that sets the script for what we are supposed to be doing with our lives, what success and happiness looks like.
I know you’ll enjoy Pat’s humorous and humble account of his meandering and wildly successful path.
One of the things that struck me about Pat’s story is that he had his breakthrough experience literally three weeks after he formally retired and handed all his business interests over to his son and son-in-law. Now he talks with great humility about his newfound mental freedom, with no small amount of compassion for the driven person he used to be, which we all can relate to.
(That said, it was moving to hear how Pat was acting “unconsciously” as a Bodhisattva even years earlier, as he navigated conflict with famous NBA personalities like Allen Iverson and Larry Brown.)
It’s possible to have breakthrough experiences at any point in our lives, but they do tend to come when we find ourselves in a natural place of inflection or transition. I’ve had some of the deepest shifts of my life after leaving a job, a location or a relationship and facing the scary prospect of being “off-script” facing an unknown future. In these cases, though, I needed a perspective from outside my normal view to really embrace the opportunity. That’s what a breakthrough is: we see clearly that we’ve been seeing things all wrong. (Well, at least partially wrong.)
As you may have seen, I have been focusing on Bardo states, or “in-between” zones in my writing and coaching work to help people make the most of their professional inflection points. My e-book “The Bardo of Work: Five Keys to Navigating the ‘In-Between’ of Work Transitions to Manifest Your Most Fulfilling Life” is available now for download, and I’m planning a free webinar on this process in the next few weeks.
I hope you enjoy, forward and share this newsletter with friends. If you would like to explore working with me one-on-one to help you navigate your personal transition, in whatever form it is taking, sign up for a free Discovery session. I’d love to chat.
take care,
Paul
Game of Zen Episode 7 - The Game is Over - Interview with Pat Croce
YouTube:
Got Fishing - A Corporate Retreat Experience with Fishing and Zen
This week, I’m happy to announce our partnership with Got Fishing, a wonderful operation run by Brian Oakland, offering spectacular fishing retreats around the world. Scott Berman and I have worked with Brian and his team over the last month to put together an offering that combines Zen mindfulness and fishing expeditions for a unique retreat experience.
If you are looking for an amazing retreat experience for your team, check out the offering at GotFishing, and give them a call. I’d love to join your team in Montana, Alaska, the South Pacific or any of the other amazing locations they run their adventures.