Competition vs. Cooperation

Our lives today are often based on the idea of competition.  We teach it to our children, promote it in our workplace, and even center our recreational activities on the idea that competition is healthy.  And while this competitive idea may have the appearance of leading us to seek personal improvement, it also drives us to continually judge ourselves and others on standards such as are we good, smart, or wealthy enough? 

Often our desire to be Number One keeps us from supporting others in their good.  Somehow our competitive worldview has even convinced us that if someone else is doing well then it diminishes what is available to us.  We have come to believe that the universe is limited and has only enough resources for a few; and if we aren’t on top then we must be on the bottom. 

While in a sports game it is true that only one team will win, that in itself doesn’t imply that the other team is somehow not of value; yet in our work life it is easy to believe that our value is less than that of our managers, and theirs is less than the contributions of the owners.  The truth is that this is no more realistic than to say that our heart is more important than our liver or our brain.  When we look at any system we find that the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts.

The word for this is synergy.  In a synergistic relationship we understand that while each part on its own is important to the whole, the importance of each part is even greater when added to the other parts of the system.  A synergistic relationship is one based on cooperation rather than competition. 

If we look to nature we see synergy all around us.  A forest is made up of many parts that are all equally important to the health of the system.  Each animal, plant, water way, even insect, is vital to the health of the forest, and each other.  The Earth is made up of many sub systems and is an even greater synergistic system itself.  My body is a synergistic system, as is my family, and my community.  When we begin to look around us we find that we are all connected to each other.

With this understanding we open to the realization that we would be more productive and efficient if we were to adopt a culture with an attitude of cooperation.  Cooperation allows us to fully embrace our synergism and create a system that is wholly beneficial.  An attitude of cooperation is one where we know that the universe is abundant and equally available to all.  We also see that it is by the betterment of others that we ourselves grow and improve.

This unlimited availability is the truth behind the Law of Attraction.  It teaches us that if something is possible for one then it is possible for all.  While we may experience limitation, those limits are self imposed.  It is our belief that we are somehow unworthy which keeps us from accepting the opportunities that present themselves to us.  It is the belief that we can’t do something which keeps us from accomplishing anything we might set out to do.  It is our past actions and choices which have resulted in the life experience we are currently engaged in.

There is a teacher named Dr. Bradley Nelson who has developed a method of releasing the hidden emotions and beliefs that keep us bound to our experience of lack and limitation.  He has offered us a simple method called The Emotion Code that we can use ourselves to heal deep seated wounds that we have been living with, and unknowingly responding to, for perhaps our entire lives.

If we let go of our desire and drive for competition we will naturally move in the direction of cooperation.  Try this the next time you find that you are measuring yourself up against another.  Take a moment to notice what it is that you want; that will tell you what you believe the other person has.  Next, imagine the opposite – that you have the quality, and then feel what it would be like to give it to them.  Imagine that this quality is unlimited and that it is flowing through you out to all beings.  When you do this you have moved from competition to cooperation.

Know now that everything in creation is available to you and that your beliefs and choices are the only limitations you are facing.  Allow your life to expand in the good you are.