{"id":13968,"date":"2017-09-20T13:42:49","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T18:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/?p=13968"},"modified":"2017-12-20T15:58:08","modified_gmt":"2017-12-20T21:58:08","slug":"a-baseball-players-guide-to-a-meaningful-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/meditation\/a-baseball-players-guide-to-a-meaningful-life\/","title":{"rendered":"A Baseball Player\u2019s Guide to a Meaningful Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of the toughest moments in life are when we feel uprooted or directionless, with no clear path or fulfilling goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For Steven Baxter growing up, purpose was connected to the routine of playing baseball, a sport which defined his upbringing and high-school years. Without that structure, Steven had to redefine what a fulfilling life looked like.<\/span><\/p>\n

He vividly recalls:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was 1978 and I was a sophomore in college. \u00a0Life seemed to accelerate after high school. \u00a0Many of the dreams I held just a year before began to crumble in front of my eyes, and, it seemed, in my very soul. \u00a0My life felt like one of those shiny silver pinballs that bounced from side to side in the video game store where I hung out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Until then, playing baseball had been the stabilizing influence in my life. \u00a0Spring and summer were ordered and predictable. \u00a0I knew when my next game was and when and where the game after that would be. \u00a0And the one after that. \u00a0And so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Even in the off-season, I had an established routine to get ready for the next year on the diamond; I knew exactly how many days were left before the first pitch of the new season. \u00a0A big red circle captured that date on the calendar. \u00a0Every day prior had a neatly hand-written number, and each day that number got smaller until it was \u201c0\u201d on opening day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, as a college sophomore, I didn\u2019t have that date circled in red to\u00a0anticipate, to plan for, to look forward to. \u00a0I was\u00a0stuck and directionless. What did I have to prepare for? I had no sense of connection to the future or, worse, no connection to myself. \u00a0I felt adrift on an ocean with no discernable horizon. \u00a0Haphazard swells and waves were pushing me in every direction without relief or coherence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But all of that was about to change.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn my sophomore year I went to a presentation at my school about Transcendental Meditation (TM). \u00a0After learning the technique, it was suddenly as if I wore a new and better prescription in my eyeglasses. \u00a0TM brought focus. \u00a0It smoothed the waves that buffeted me daily. \u00a0Even though I didn\u2019t know (at that point) exactly where I was going, TM helped me to understand and appreciate where I was at any given moment. \u00a0Knowing that, I felt like I could quickly and confidently set out on life\u2019s journey when it was time to do so. I had recalibrated my internal compass to True North.<\/span><\/p>\n

After graduating from community college in 1979, despite my newfound experience and “grounding” from TM, I still felt storm-tossed from time to time. \u00a0In the late ’70s, there were few jobs in the northeast United States; those that were available didn’t appeal to me. \u00a0As a result, I\u00a0joined the United States Navy, hoping to find even deeper meaning and purpose in\u00a0life. \u00a0Thankfully, I did, and enjoyed a successful and rewarding career of more than 30 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Following retirement from the Navy in 2012, I returned to college and earned a master\u2019s degree in teaching, specializing in elementary and middle-level education. \u00a0Now, I’m a successful consultant, working for an international strategy and technology firm. \u00a0I honestly don’t know if I would have found my life’s path if it hadn’t been for that initial course correction provided by TM back in 1978.\u201d<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Steven Baxter growing up, purpose was connected to the routine of playing baseball, a sport which defined his upbringing and high-school years. Without that structure, Steven had to redefine what a fulfilling life looked like… Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,3,53],"tags":[209,75,29,78,201,63,295,292,299,22],"class_list":["post-13968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bloggers","category-meditation","category-people","tag-benefits","tag-creativity","tag-experience","tag-happiness","tag-inner-peace","tag-interview","tag-meditation","tag-meditation-benefits","tag-people","tag-transcendental-meditation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13968"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14012,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13968\/revisions\/14012"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}