Life is not a competition.

Not at all. Life itself is abundant and rich and overflowing. Take a look at a tree full of ripe fruits or a field full of grain. Just by looking at it, it makes you feel rich and abundant. And you feel that there is more than enough for everybody. But usually the abundant mentality stops there.

Many of us are born and raised in a strong belief system that says that there is never enough of what we need or want. For many this is also more then a belief, it is a fact of life. There is not enough food, not enough money, not enough love, etc. You learn to think that if you don't make sure to take your part, someone else will take it.

That is where you start to believe that life is a competition. You have to be better, stronger, faster, prettier, taller, and skinnier or whatever else you can be more than others.

But fact is that there is more than enough of everything we need and want. There is more then enough food, so nobody would have to starve. There is enough medicine to save millions of lives, and there is enough money. If all the money in the world would be balanced more equally, everybody would be very rich!

I know this may sound simple and easy, and that there are many reasons why I am wrong, but please put aside judgements and opinions for a moment.

Start to think like you care for people instead of compete with them. Would it not be fair if all human beings had equal rights? That everyone would have the right to get food, shelter, medicine and basic education. I am not talking about equality here, like the communistic idea that everybody should be earning the same, regardless of what they are doing. I am talking about getting basic needs covered. If basic needs are covered, people can choose how to live their life, instead of having to fight to survive.

With competitive mentalities like Survival of the fittest and Dog eat Dog, we justify that people are starving to death. We think that if someone wins, someone has to loose. It is now time to change this into a win-win mentality. That means we think, talk and act in a way that we want everybody to benefit. It is a way of thinking that includes all human beings. This way of thinking comes from the understanding that we are one.

We are one human race on one planet.

When I see myself as a part of this world I feel that the world is my responsibility. I understand that what I am thinking, saying and doing will affect the world. What I think, say and do to the world, I do to myself since I am a part of the world. That makes it more difficult not to care about what is happening, because I know that it directly affects me.

With competitive mentality, I do not mean the drive you have to do your best. That you want to do your best is a fantastic asset and a driving force in your life. Wanting to do your best is a great motivation! If you do your best you are the best. That means everybody is unique and exceptional, just by being who they are. Do your absolute best; strive to do what you love with the highest quality ever seen. But do it from a place inside where you want to come out with who you are, and not to overrun others. If you do what you love doing, you are competing in a natural way; you are on top because you are giving your very best.

You hear athletes talking about "The Flow", that means the space where their performance comes easy and seem effortless. You can also reach that space with your work, and that is actually what life is meant to be. Not a struggle, not a competition, but a flow. This flow is an energy that comes out of you because you want to create. So remember to make your competition a heart-full one and not a horror-full one.

When you do your best, you are the best!

Copyright (c) 2005 Oyvind Hennum