“Winning is everything” . This statement is enough to register an increase in the pulse rate of many. No one wants to be left behind. All of us want to scurry along in the race. When the mind feels the urgency the body prepares itself to compete in the concrete jungle of finding food or escaping from become prey to another animal. Winners are the ones who walk away with the best and the most. The winner gets the best jobs, the biggest market share, the best reviews, the best accolades and the Adrenalin rush. If you are not a winner your heart stops singing and your life is a series of torturous climbs to reach that coveted summit. To have the best one definitely has to aspire to be a winner. But there is a fine distinction between being our best, being the best and having the best. We loose the present to the dream of having the throne. Nerves are frayed or we escape into our webs of fantasy.
Winning is about being in competition with ourselves all the time. When one aspires to better himself he is not in an unhealthy competition with others, he rather uses their competence as a yardstick and an awareness device. We are all winners in our own ways. Every day when we wake up with a smile we have won over our laziness and defeatism. Every time we stop procrastinating we have won over our fear of failure. Every time we move we have won over inertia and every time we are still we have won over restlessness. We are changing each moment and every time we direct the course of that change we have won over fatalism. Each time we let go, trust and surrender we have won over worry. Each time we hold two seemingly opposing thoughts in balance we have won over extremism. Every time we smile at a stranger we have won over fear of being misunderstood. Each time we breathe more deeply we have won over holding in the unwanted. Every time we rejoice in life we have won over ingratitude. Every time we love ourselves with our imperfections we have won over discontent. Every time we choose to sit up straight we have won over conditioning. Every time we make lifestyle changes for the better we have won over resistance to change. Every time we are willing to be reborn we have won over decay.
Redefining winning as a process and not as an end result or destination alone, will help each one of us be winners. A winning attitude is a frame of mind that nurtures us moment to moment. It is an attitude of being grounded in reality. It is an attitude that tunes into infinity. It is an attitude that reflects our connection to others and ourselves. It is an attitude of discipline, joy and freedom. With such an attitude at each moment and day we win.