COOPERATION VS. COMPETITION

Be number one!  Win at all costs!  Be at the head of your class!  Honor assemblies!  So much of what we hear every day exhorts us to be better than others.  Only if we get ahead of others are we successful.  Too bad for the guy left behind, just step right over him/her.  We get compared to others from the day we are born.  Who does he look like?  How does she compare to the norm?  It intensifies in our school years through sports, grades, popularity contests, and pressure to be the best.  Then, we move into our adult years with a firmly entrenched belief that unless we are better than others we aren’t ‘winners.’   I struggle daily to let go of this belief and to recognize my own and others’ worth and value.  It’s hard to let go of a belief that my agenda and way of doing things isn’t always the best way.  I take on way too much responsibility and at times, I become judgmental, critical, arrogant and alienate others by my need to prove I am better than.  I forget how interdependent we all are and that we need each other.

Today, I choose to focus on cooperation and collaboration.  I want to honor other’s efforts and find ways to work together to achieve OUR outcomes.  It is satisfying, fulfilling, fun and life giving to experience mutuality and affinity.  Two heads are better than one and three heads are even better.  I will recognize when I am in my competitive mind, acknowledge my need for self -affirmation and then remember we are all in this together and move toward collaborative action.