Do Not ‘Win’, Prevail
Do not 'Win', Prevail.
When I was a younger man, I had a Muay-Thai coach whom I naively asked: "Will you teach me to win?" He stopped the exercise and said, "No, but I will teach you to prevail when the fight has become almost unbearable". This has obviously stuck with me and its relevance is universal.
Amidst the ceaseless challenges of life, when we are in danger of being taken to the ground or easily dragged headlong in the wrong direction, the basic rule in the mind is to prevail, not to win. In spite of all the ill-intentioned people and things that are designed to derail us-we set the mind to prevail. This is not easy.
Often we will use the capricious nature of others in spite of all of our effort, to derail ourselves. I can be specific but we all know how we remain too long in relationships that sap our strength, with people whom do not share our heart, and do things we feel adamantly opposed to to "get ahead". Ironically, in the end we cannot blame anyone for our failures. Working against our own best interest is the rough equivalent to the opposite of what most martial arts teach. Instead of using attendant forces to aid us, we let them overwhelm, overcome and eventually defeat us. We come crashing down in a flurry of self-inflicted blows.
To prevail is superior to "winning", for the art of it is mustered by real self-worth and not base competition which engages all of our lower functions so well. We prevail by self determination, (that glow in our very hearts) and not by self dissipation (letting others have access to and destroy that part of us).
We can prevail with others, as well. We needn't 'go it alone'. Those who are mature and courageous enough to actually love themselves AND us in the same sphere are our compatriots. We prevail when our lives are collaborative and celebratory. We prevail when we can say, assuredly, "I've done the good thing for more than my own well being but that of my fellow humans, in spite of those who would mislead me."
We prevail when we are magnetised by all the forces around us. we prevail by becoming aligned with that great gravity of which the heart is both sextant and compass. There is nothing to "win" nor anything to prove to anyone. There is no reward. There is only movement towards a higher realisation of aligned or misaligned we are, and the heart knows which is which
Love, prevails. I believe this. Love prevails in spite of all else, even if our attitude must be one of cheerful despair.
