On competition...

"How much of your day is spent thinking in terms of better than and worse than?"

This was the question posed to me yesterday at the start of my weekly yoga class*. I immediatley felt connected to this question as I am vehemently opposed to competition in any way. I went through my pratcice thinking about how spiritually advanced I am because I constantly profess that I am not a competitive person. And, yes, this feeling of spiritual advancement led me to somehow view myself as superior to others who might consider being competitive to be a weakness of theirs.

And then came the kicker, which came in the form of this little quip:

"Competition is like a knife. It cuts. It divides. It separates. So, we should take this knife away and hide it from everyone so it doesn't cut anyone, right? But then, we miss out on all the wonderful that knives can do for us. With what would we cut things? Ah, so we must make sure that everyone has a knife because knives are so great and useful and we should use knives for everything and look what...OUCH! I just cut myself."

Lesson learned. Several lessons actually:

1. Competition is not all bad. There is room for it in the world. It motivates and drives us to do better in life. But, as with any great power, great responsibility follows. Use wisely.

2. Yet again, the words "Everything in moderation" are corroborated.

3. In assuming that I was spiritually superior to others for my non-competitive nature, I was thus comparing myself to them and being competitive! Tricky self!

*This yoga class is like my version of going to church. Except I go on Tuesday night. I get to practice yoga and I don't get ridiculed for not knowing bible verses. Actually, it's better than church. We do our practice and have important conversations about life, how to live and how to be the best you.