October 8     

Today's quotation:

I have a basic philosophy that I've tried to follow during my coaching career.  Whether you're winning or losing, it's important to always be yourself.  You can't change because of the circumstances around you.

Cotton Fitzsimmons

Today's Meditation:

If I can be myself, it won't matter to me a bit whether I'm winning or losing or doing well or poorly.  If I'm myself I'll accept all the situations and circumstances of my life with equanimity, realizing that as long as I'm doing my best and following my heart, even supposed losing situations are full of valuable lessons for me.

We put a lot of emphasis on winning.  And when we don't win, we often see it as a reflection of there being something wrong with us.  And win or lose, we often don't act as ourselves when we see the results.  As winners, we're not always gracious, focusing more on our victory than on things like gratitude for being able to win or for the competition our opponents have provided.  As losers, we often feel anger towards ourselves, or we act as "poor losers," making excuses for our loss or blaming the opponents for competing unfairly.

"You can't change because of the circumstances around you."  If you do, you're allowing outside circumstances to control who you are and how you act, and that never can be healthy.  You were created as a wonderful human being, but the moment that you start acting in inauthentic ways, you're lessening yourself and your gifts in life.  You are who you are-- be proud enough of that to honor it by remaining who you are, through thick and thin, through all things that you may go through.  And when you honor yourself that way, you're showing the world that you're perfectly satisfied with yourself the way you were created.  And which of us shouldn't be proud of that?

Questions to consider:

When do you find yourself acting in ways that aren't authentic to you?

How often are you completely yourself?

Do you ever let circumstances determine how you act?

For further thought:

To be nobody-but-yourself--in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else-- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.

e. e. cummings

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