Japan Wins! Hello, Tuesday...

Japan wins the World Baseball Classic in a beautifully played game against Korea. Ichiro, the brilliant outfielder and batsman who plays for Seattle in the Major Leagues is famous for his calm focus. Check this quote out, describing his own state of mind when the game was on the line:

“I really wish I could be in a state of Zen,” Suzuki said. “I kept thinking of all the things I shouldn’t think about. Usually, I cannot hit when I think of all those things. This time, I got a hit. Maybe I surpassed myself.”

"Maybe I surpassed myself", meaning in spite of imperfect focus he was able to get the job done. Very interesting, from a Zen perspective. Speaking of flow states and baseball, there is new authorized biography on Manny Ramirez, perhaps the best right handed hitter of the last 15 years, and a notable eccentric. The author is a psychologist, and was granted special access to who she called "the Greta Garbo of baseball". Luckily Manny's wife was around to help coax the conversation along (from an interview in the Boston Globe):

Q. If you had to diagnose him, what would you say?
A. Well, he has an incredible ability to focus and get into a flow state, which transcends the known world. He's fundamentally a very shy person and experiences a high level of social anxiety. It's like the whole world is conspiring to take him out of his flow state. Also, there's a degree of narcissism. That can't be denied.

I thought this was interesting as well. Ramirez is utterly focused on hitting and has mastered it. Everything else on the field is secondary. He is highly anxious in other situations. Did he just stumble on this ability to concentrate, and how much of it is temperament? Or is there something else going on?
Most important is the idea of "flow". Anybody interested in optimizing their abilities should become familiar with this research.