"Every person who becomes rich by competition knocks down the ladder by which he rises, and keeps others down, but every person who gets rich by creation opens a way for thousands to follow - and inspires them to do so." Wallace D. Wattles

written by Wendy Muhammad
I have received lots of feedback from you regarding my blogs on the downfalls of a competitive spirit. I realize that this is a tough lesson to swallow. The other day someone called me a motivational coach and I laughed. Because learning to be emotionally intelligent and change the way we think and behave is not always motivational. You'll likely need motivation after tackling some of these principles. I promise that the life skills discussed on my blogs and in my workshops will be life changing. You will witness the emergence of immediate transformation after one of our coaching sessions. And if you are motivated by moving into a new realm of thinking that manifests your greatness then you will likely be motivated by my work.

Many of you in business are really struggling with this concept because we have been taught that competition is the art of business and the foundation of our self worth. I too was taught early in my career that business was all about competition. We were given examples in college of companies creating competing brands and the importance of studying the competition. And while these are important business concepts they should not consume us. In pop culture we see artists and entertainers competing and battling against one another so we tend to subconsciously adopt this behavior as a way of life.

Many of us are victims of discrimination or racism and must work hard to change our mentality lest we evolve into our abusers. We are all running as fast as we can and subconsciously feeding our already inflated egos the nourishment that encourages us to always seek to be different or to feel special. See, because we are all special, none of us are special. For many of us, our growth is stunted because we realize that we can't compete so we do nothing. We're afraid of failure or what someone is going to say about us. Our competitive mindset is often our downfall. We are afraid to lose.

Many of us are so tired and so overwhelmed with life. The fatigue is brought on by the fact that we've veered off course or never even had a game plan of our own in the first place. Instead of improving our spiritual lives so that we tap into our own purpose, we spend hours mimicking what our "so-called" competitors are doing. There is a difference between studying techniques and mimicking others. Being creative requires that we take responsibility for our life and/or business plan. We often watch characters on television and say, "I want to be just like that". We can count on one hand the ideas we have that originated from our own creative flow. The way we wear our hair, the clothes we wear and the way we act are all based on what we've seen others do. And we do it because we don't have a sense of uniqueness. Our creative muscles are weak and almost paralyzed.

In our personal lives, we want to be the best dressed the smartest, drive the best car, etc. The majority of our focus is on how special, different or better than the next person we can be. All our conversations are about another person and what they are doing with their life. We talk and think about these differences all day long. We spend every waking moment trying to make sure we are special. Many of us can't even be a friend nor have a loving conversation with someone without competing. We rarely listen and spend the majority of the conversation trying to think of what we can say that outdoes what the person on the other end is saying. We are victims of a competitive society and we don't even know it. We must awaken our divine creative spirit in order to discover our authenticity. How can we be authentic and original if we are not focused on the creative source that dwells within us?

Why is being creative more important than being competitive? Society often makes us feel as if life is a foot race or some game that we must play in order to win an illusionary prize. We wake up in the morning and from the time our feet hit the ground we are racing towards this illusion. We are so caught up that everything around us is either a reminder of how well we are doing or how poorly we are performing. How can we focus on our purpose in life if our mind is occupied with these thoughts all day long?

Think about unique innovators in the sports and entertainment industry? Whether you like Beethoven, James Brown, Elton John, Prince, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson or Muhammad Ali, they all became great by tapping into their uniqueness. They built their careers around their unique stories and lives. Their greatness has been so profound that they've opened the doors for others. They are so great that they have no competition. They have no competition because they sit in their uniqueness. There is no one else like them.

We were placed on this earth for a reason. If you believe in God or some power higher than yourself, know that we are all a part of a great universe. We can tap into the power of that universal mind at will. We must focus on the infinite greatness of our Creator. Never focus on the visible, limitless supply defined by a competitive mindset.

You must have absolutely unwavering faith that you have the right to live out your God given purpose. Certainly a reminder is a mercy and often a motivator. But never obsessively focus on what the next person is doing. At the end of the day, what's for you is for you and what's for them is for them and there is nothing anyone can do about it. The desire and ability to increase and advance is inherent in nature. You must go to your source of power and tap into your own uniqueness. Learn to support and praise the uniqueness of others. Navigate through your jealousy or your desire to compete. This is the energy that will come back to you.

Here are some steps that we can take to help us evolve out of the competitive ego mind:

1. Don't obsessively focus on being impressive: Your uniqueness is impressive. The next time you are in a group or talking to someone, refrain from statements or conversations that are geared towards impressing the group or person. Try not to show off or over talk the next person. Instead, focus on encouraging others and actively listening. This will help you to determine when it is truly time for you to focus on being impressive. Send good energy to others so that their conversation with you is enlightening.
2. Avoid using your religion / spirituality to impress: This is a tough one because many of us who are newly religious or spiritual often wear it on our sleeves. It becomes our mojo. We assume that everyone should believe as we believe. Open your mind. You can learn from everyone and every situation. Listen actively. Don't be so quick to crush the competition with religious or spiritual talk that might alienate you. Try to create productive dialogue that bridges the gap and helps you learn from one another. Learn to teach by example.
3. Stop talking about people: We are all guilty of this. Stop talking about people for no reason. There are times when discussing a person's behavior traits is necessary. Most of the time we sit around and blast other people for no reason other than to make ourselves feel good. We use deceptive intelligence to justify our reasons, such as feeling sorry for them or we are trying to understand. If you find yourself in this behavioral cycle just be quiet. If you can't think of anything good to say or find anything better to do than to sit around and analyze the behavior of others, try analyzing your own behavior. What often bothers you about other people bothers other people about you.

4. Practice Gratitude: Gratitude is said to be the essence of good mental health and spirituality. It is generally defined as "the state of being grateful". A state is a mode or condition of being. It's a condition of mind or temperament. The magical affects of gratitude involve shifting our mental consciousness to focus on what we have as opposed to what we don't have. Gratitude is the manner through which we relate to and acknowledge the power that gives us everything we need and desire. If we are focused on our own blessings we will shift from the competitive mindset and will be too busy and too grateful to ruin it by focusing on competing

Get Somewhere and Sit Down

written by Wendy Franklin Muhammad

My grandmother who was a beautiful creole woman who had all these wonderful philosophical outlooks on life that my brother and cousins would spend nights cracking up about. No matter what was wrong with us her response was almost always, Get somewhere and sitdown. "My Stomach Hurts". Get some where and sit down. "I fell off my bike". Get some where and sit down. "I'm tired." Get some where and sit down. "My nose is stopped up". "Get some where and sit down." We'd just sit there and think of things to say just to see if she'd say the same thing. "The news said there's tornado warning". Get somewhere and sit down.

As an adult, I learned the value of sitting down some where. We are often so busy running around, multi-tasking and thinking of a million things at once that we lose sight on the value of just sitting quietly, re-centering and calming down. Sitting quietly and focusing on our breath is a great way to re-center, check-in with ourselves and re-group. It can help us to listen to our intuition, prioritize and think more clearly. It reduces anxiety and increases awareness. I can think of plenty of instances where I was running around getting into things that weren't right for me that if I'd just got some where and sat down, I could have avoided a lot of challenges.

Take a moment and sit quietly. Listen to your breath. Slow down your inhalations and exhalations. Try it for 60 seconds. You can change your emotional state with this simple exercise.

So the next time you find yourself out of control, thinking negative thoughts or just in need of focus, Just get some where and sit down!

"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Proverbs 23:7

written by Wendy Franklin Muhammad

There are times when we are thinking negative thoughts or sometimes even evil thoughts. I don't think I need to give examples because we've all been there. But if we learn to look at thought as spiritual energy, it may be a little easier for us to get ourselves together. When our thoughts are negative or fueled by unproductive emotions we are creating a negative energy field around us. Most of us know this conceptually but we can't quite wrap our minds around how powerful we really are. And moreover we don't realize that thoughts=spiritual energy.

Many of us strive to be positive and emotionally intelligent. But sometimes there are days when we struggle. As we get stronger, we strive for more and our challenges will become greater. As we strive to live extraordinary lives, our challenges become more extraordinary. In those moments we must remember the inner-power that we possess; our ability to change our thoughts. And since thoughts are spiritual energy, we can begin to change our energy state by simply changing our thoughts.

Take a moment to think about thoughts as spiritual energy. Have you ever spoken with someone or listened to a Coach, Pastor or television program that generated thoughts that made you feel good? We all have our favorite Pastor, friend, book, song or program that just makes us feel good. On the other hand, we have to guard against programs, music, speakers and friends that consistently make us feel bad or unmotivated. It's impossible to avoid this altogether. I'm certainly not saying that we should only associate ourselves with people or things that make us feel good. I want us to understand the link between thought and spiritual energy. The feelings that these examples provoke are originated by the spiritual energy/thoughts that words invoke.

There are many ways in which you can go about changing your emotional state. There are times when we are so insane and so filled with negativity or fear that we have to first find words or thoughts (spiritual energy) that will place us in a better state of mind before we can even move forward. We all have those days; those days where nagging negativity gives us a headache or those days where it takes us longer to change our state than usual. We even have days where we jump to emotional conclusions only to find that our inner voice becomes blaringly more negative.

First we must acknowledge our thoughts and see what our inner voice is saying to us. First sit quietly and do nothing. Don't judge the thought, yourself or the situation, just let it flow. Become a quiet observer, watching and listening. Often times we are picking up on thoughts and energy that are not our own. Other times we are misinterpreting thoughts and energy. Then there are times where we are adopting the thoughts of others as our own. Whatever it is, sitting quietly in a non judgmental mindset will help you to see more clearly. This takes practice.

Stop worrying about being perfect, having perfect thoughts and doing perfect deeds. I'm not at all saying that you shouldn't work hard to live, think and communicate harmoniously, but there will be times when you are challenged. Here is some thought/spiritual energy that you can say to yourself during those times: "When I am weak, make mistakes, negative, or unaware, God/The Universe always covers me. There is no evil or weapon that can come against me and prosper. I am a divinely gifted and protected child of God or subset of the Universal Mind."

So the next time you are thinking evil, revengeful thoughts about someone, keep in mind that you are creating that same spiritual energy field around yourself. Remind yourself that thoughts are spiritual energy.