Breaking the habit of competition

[laura888]

I am a fairly competitive person, and I'm realizing I don't want to be.

I look for situations where I can compete, and then feel great when I'm winning and lousy and uncomfortable when someone else is.

I've alienated people I like because I compete with them. I am not close to my brothers because we grew up competing with each other.

Being in a capitalist society, I think that competitiveness is encouraged. It has served me in some ways - such as making money - but it permeates my life, not just my working life.

I know there is another way to be - have started to explore Buddhism, for instance.

How does one break the habit? Has anyone else gone through anything similar?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I think following a spiritual path can help

I can't really remember if I have ever been competative, so I might not know-but I know that being on a Path has helped me with personality characteristics that I wished to refine.

[laura888]

2. thanks - will you share...

...what type of path you are on?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. although each path is unique to the individual

most use teachings from one particular school or another. I have been a Sufi initiate since 1989. If you wish to find out more about my particualr path, check out this website:

www.churchofall.us

as it explains it better than I could in a post.

[laura888]

5. thank you for sharing!

I am searching for a path - I will check out the site.

[Tux]

4. Competition is lame

Captialism does encourage it but it's not needed in that way. When I did temp work for Dell as a tech, I only competed with myself. Could I solve a problem faster and better? Culd I fix this one weird problem? Over time, my skills greatly improved. Even my manager said that my skills developed faster than the rest of my team. Too bad I solved problems the L2s couldn't solve. That ended my contract.