Timing

Principle of Timing

"All things are ready if our minds be so," observes Henry V on the eve of the English forces' fatal battle at Agincourt with the French. The key to timing is presence: Now! Not then, not when, not there! Here is the opening! Ripeness is all.

One way to improve your sense of timing is to understand how it is disturbed. Know that your timing can be off when:

you are exhausted.
you are overwhelmed by too many things.
you are wearied by stress.
you have suffered a loss or a reverse.
you have enjoyed a great victory or success (particularly when your vanity is engaged).
whenever the trolls are present because the first thing the trolls will do to attack your sense of timing and balance.

In all such cases -- and many more -- when your consciousness (integrity) is scattered, it is unwise to make a significant decision or to embark on an important course of action. The correct move (timing) is to pause, to collect your powers, reclaim integrity and then act.

Simply cultivating integrity will develop your sense of timing. Being present is all you have to do. When you are fully present to what is going on outside and within -- just attending to your physical sensations, your feelings, your thoughts -- you reestablish gravitas and you are ready. Then it doesn't matter what move your opponent makes. Any move will do. And it doesn't matter, really, what move you make. Every move is the "right" move -- even the "wrong" move is the right move! -- because when you are fully present, you are aligned and trainable, and because then you will instantly know when you are off and see how to transform a mistake into an opportunity.

In addition to practicing being fully present there are numerous other principles and moves that will work for you.

practicing giving and receiving a 'no'
no assumptions, no expectations
principle of connectedness
hold integrity
principle of containment
principle of increasing fun and play
principle of lightness, resilience, and bounce

The is just a sampling. No doubt you will discover many others.

Timing is an automatic thing. By the time you know what move to make, it is already too late. Look at a dragonfly:

The dragonfly
Perches on the stick
Raised to strike him (Basho)
We have much to learn from this little samurai.

But don't take any of this on faith. Be your own scientist. Verify for yourself.

Here is a way:

Timing - On: Five times this week you played well, you were on, and what you learned.

Timing Off: Five times this week your timing was off, what happened and what you discovered.

Timing Reclaimed: Finally, five times this week your timing was off, you sensed it, recovered, and what happened next.