Learning to drive

Learning to drive well is like learning to move well.

When you first start you're on your L-plates.  Concentration is intense and it takes time/experience to loosen up, to be more comfortable with the task at hand and developing sound habits early on will serve you well.  Experience has a significant effect as long as you constantly learn.  Driving with poor habits for 20 years doesn't make you a proficient driver.  We need to drive like we care.

Peripheral vision comes with mastery.  Watch many motorbike riders and professional truck drivers at work here.  They're constantly looking in the mirrors to create a 'big picture' situation - gathering all the information to make accurate decisions at any time.  Why?  Because it matters.  A bike rider must ride proactively in order to preempt avoidable situations (particularly as in the event of a problem it's highly likely that the rider's problem is a big problem)!  Similar for truck drivers.  Most have seen it all and are in the space of pre-emptive proactive driving.  This makes them experts as they navigate the driving profession well beyond just the performance of the machine. 

We move the same way.  

Most of us weren't taught to move well or at least grown up in situations that fostered proactive natural movement.  Today's sedentary lifestyle lends itself to setting less-than effective role-models for our children so it's easy to develop poor habits early on.  And small things are not small things when done repeatedly.  

A professional sportsperson does not mean they're experts in movement.  They're an expert in their given sport only.  An expert in any given field is like a professional driver - they look at, feel and adapt to all the input / information available and adjust their decisions accordingly.  

An expert in movement adapts to the requirements at hand with a purposeful and sustainable outcome.  They move like they care because it does matter.  They think and feel whole body big picture.  An example of this might be doing a hand-stand.  Try simply doing one freestanding or against a wall.  Now try  the same movement but this time someone you love is standing exactly where the wall is instead.  Push too far and you kick them in the face!  Now it matters. 

When you think in the realms of movement matters, things take a different perspective.  It takes time to adapt, sometimes a long time.  Be patient.  Just like meditation, the returns are significant if you apply yourself with an understanding that dividends await.