The Mastery of the Thing!: Transcendence in Counseling and Sports

The worlds of counseling and sports have things vital in common. Both are arenas for facing and overcoming adversity, for going beyond the limits of ordinary experience, for transcending. In sports it is easy to see. Beyond cheering on our favorite player or team, what we secretly hope and watch for is this potential at any moment for transcendence. Even if it's but one superlative play, one dazzling move in the entire game, our watchful spirits see it and soar. Dazzling moments may be less apparent in counseling, because less tangible, but the elation there can be even greater with so much more than a game at stake. Seeking out help is itself an achievement of spirit given our extroverted culture's reluctance to see admission of vulnerability as anything but weakness. Finding the courage to scale heights and dare depths, whether on the playing field or in the counselor's office, is precisely what invites transcendence. The coach's role in the one arena, not unlike the counselor's in the other, is critical. Both serve as guides knowing well the arduous journey. Both urge utilization of resources, inner more even than outer. Both call for preparation and practice, alertness and ardor, refusal to give up when discouraged. Both believe in transcendence, make room for transcendence, hearten and embolden towards transcendence. And then, when thresholds are crossed and obstacles overcome, both cheer in heart if not bow in soul before, in Gerard Manley Hopkins' words beholding a falcon rebuffing a big wind, "the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!"