Grossweiner's Law

[DISCLAIMER]

Being from Texas, my exposure to firearms came at a relatively early age. When in second or third grade, I tagged along with a friend and his family for pistol shooting at the Canadian River in Amarillo, Texas. I don’t recall whether or not I was proficient with a revolver at that age.

In fourth or fifth grade, I was introduced to black powder rifle shooting when attending summer camp in Canyon, Texas. Most of what I remember about that event was that adults who prepared the firearm set it up for hair-trigger action. I also recall an immense amount of recoil.

Other than that, I played with BB guns of various verities. My marksmanship was about what one could expect from a novice shooter. Then, in high school, my gangbanger friends introduced me to firearms which were shared among them. I don’t have much to say about those details.

Not long after graduating from high school I attended United States Marine Corps Recruit Training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California. My enlistment included a guaranteed contract for military police (MP), as I’d gone a long way from being on the blocc.

When in boot camp, I wasn’t particularly skillful with the M16A2 service rifle. After further practice, I became much better at engaging targets with iron sights from the 500-yard line. As well, I was competent with the various other weapons systems in Marine Combat Training.

Marines were taught the axiom “one shot, one kill,” presumably as a matter of reserving ammunition. Also, shooting with a rifle or pistol was rendered to a fairly straightforward method: Breathe in, breathe out, wait for a natural pause, focus on the front sight tip, and squeeze.

Although it may seem odd to hear that mental, emotional, and behavioral health techniques for calming oneself during stressful moments also work well in regard to the taking of a life by way of firearms, yet over the years this has been my case. Of this, I said in a post entitled Yippee!:

Remarkably, the most proficient I’ve ever been with mindful breathing was when training how to discharge a weapon. To be exceedingly clear, I’m talking about mindfulness as a means of stopping a human threat through the legal termination of life.

It was in MP school at Fort McClellan, Anniston, Alabama that I discovered how poorly I shot with a pistol. Unlike the Army instructor who mainly used his time teaching Marines to shoot by demonstrating his ability to perform trick shots, I didn’t learn to proficiently handle a pistol.

In fact, when on the range, I recall disturbing myself quite a bit with irrational beliefs about missed shots of the past and shots I was about to take in the future. From the perspective of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I now realize how unhelpful my approach was.

This is demonstrated by two tools. First, REBT uses the ABC model to illustrate that when an undesirable Action occurs and you Believe an unhelpful narrative about the event, it’s your unfavorable assumption, and not the occurrence itself, that causes an unpleasant Consequence.

As an example, I pulled (missed) a lot of shots when on the range (Action). I then unhelpfully Believed, “I suck, because other MPs aren’t missing as many shots. I can’t stand how awful I am at shooting! Besides, I’m from Texas, having grown up with firearms, so I should shoot well!”

Using those self-narratives, I experienced the Consequences of ruminating thoughts about how poorly I performed or would continue performing (cognitive), irritability (emotive), and jitters from a rush of energy throughout my body (sensation), as I missed even more shots (behavioral).

So much for mindful shooting! Addressing how people upset themselves with unhelpful attitudes, the ABC model incorporates Disputation of unproductive assumptions in order to explore Effective new beliefs. This is the process of un-disturbing yourself.

For instance, rather than dwelling on missed shots or anticipating the outcome of my next shots, I could’ve reasoned that inducing stress while training would likely lead to the induction of stress in a real-world scenario. If I wanted to be a competent shooter, I didn’t need to stress myself out.

The second helpful tool of REBT is the technique of unconditional acceptance (UA) to relieve suffering, unnecessary stress, etc. This is accomplished through use of unconditional self-acceptance, unconditional other-acceptance, and unconditional life-acceptance.

Using principles of Stoicism, UA explores how little control and influence each person has over oneself, others, and in life overall. In regard to shooting, I couldn’t control shots of the past or bullets in the future after they exited firearms. Yet, I controlled my behavior in the moment.

When recently watching the sports comedy television series Stick, about a washed-up professional golfer who turns towards a rising young star in the game to turn things around, I was reminded of these helpful REBT tools. Now, I’ll share this psychoeducational lesson with you.

During season one, episode two, former professional golfer Pryce Cahill coaches up and coming golfer Santi Wheeler. During one particular scene, the following dialogue unfolds after Santi performs poorly:

Santi: Wha-wha-wha-what was that?

Pryce: You ever hear of Willie Grossweiner?

Santi: Is that your porn name?

Pryce: No. Bryce Bangin’, that’s my porn name. Grossweiner was a guy I played with at Q-School [Qualifying School], and he had a superpower on the course. He didn’t care about his last shot!

And he wasn’t worried about where his next shot was gonna land! All this guy was focused on was his swing—in the moment. It’s like he knew that was the only thing he could control. So I call it Grossweiner’s Law.

Although not referred to by this name, I learned something similar to Grossweiner’s Law when on voluntary appellate leave from the Department of Defense and when subcontracted to the Department of Energy. It was at that stage of my life that I guarded nuclear weapons.

Similar to my duties as an MP, when serving as a security police officer (SPO), I received training on various weapons systems. Leaving my last duty station in Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, California, I was an expert rifleman and pistol shooter.

However, one SPO instructor said to my training class, “How many jarheads we have with us? Raise your hands!” A number of us identified ourselves. “I bet’cha think you’re hot shit; all you Marines do. Lemme guess, you learned how to lie real still and shoot ‘one shot, one kill,’ right?”

I was puzzled. Did this instructor know that he was criticizing some of the finest war-fighters in the world? (Oh, how ignorant I was!) “I’ll put your ass on a timer, and we’ll see how deadly you are,” the instructor jeered. Curiously, he was spot-on!

When given the opportunity to shoot quickly, each and every Marine in a combined SPO class had poor grouping (the pattern of bullet impacts on a target after a series of shots are fired at the same point of aim). I self-disturbed quite a bit with unfavorable beliefs about this matter.

As training went on and I learned to become proficient with speed shooting, I eventually achieved competence to a level whereby I practiced for competition shooting matches. This form of practice occurred both on and off of the nuclear worksite.

SPO marksmanship instructors were among the best I’d ever met. Not only did they teach me how to engage multiple targets, shoot on the move, shoot quickly, and narrow my shot groups, they advocated something akin to Grossweiner’s Law.

“Don’t worry about that one, it’s gone” one instructor told me when training for the Security Police Officer Training Competition, “and don’t anticipate your next shot. All there is—is right now.” This was a method of mindful shooting.

And unlike my Marine Corps shooting instruction, I learned to shoot well on a timer. “So how does any of this apply to mental health?” you may ask. Allow me to explain. Discussing Grossweiner’s Law later in the Stick episode, the following dialogue unfolds:

Elena (Santi’s mother): I’ve tried to make good decisions for us ever since your dad left, pero [but], pssshhh…it’s never good enough. [deep breath] Yeah.

Santi: Pacing ourselves. [speaks Spanish]

Elena: No, I can’t be, you know, willy-nilly about something like this [speaks Spanish] It’s a catastrophe! No.

Santi: Have…have you ever heard of Willie Grossweiner?

Elena: Psshhh…not in the mood for dirty jokes, mi’jo [my son].

Santi: No! No, no, no, no, no. It’s not a joke. He was a golfer, and, and, and the thing that made him so good was that he never thought about the shot that he took before. That was history! And he wasn’t worried about where the ball was gonna end up after he hit it. He couldn’t control that!

The only thing that he could control was his swing—in the moment! Mami, mami, sometimes we have to forget about the things that have happened before, and not worry about what happens next. Sometimes we just need to take the swing! Hey, let’s see where the ball lands. It might be a great life, we don’t know! We won’t know unless we try.

Grossweiner’s Law applies to mental health, in that dwelling on the past or ruminating about the future can sabotage your success in this moment. Steadying your mind and taking your shot is what it’s all about. All there is—is right now. Are you ready to shoot your shot?

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

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