On Joyful Competition

“Let go of winning and losing and find joy.” - Dhammapada

For Dharmaspoon Guy and family, this year has been particularly intense in terms of both the dog and human competitions. We have competed in about a dozen agility trials, 4 triathlons, 3 running races, and have at least another 4 agility trials and 2 or 3 running races to go.

Sometimes we have made it cleanly through agility courses and have earned placements and titles. Other times, it just wasn’t happen. Races resulted in personal bests and age group placements at times, and at other times, not.

Does it feel good to win? Of course it does! Is that why we compete? No*.

So why do we subject ourselves to getting up at ungodly hours on weekends when we can sleep in so that we can compete?

It boils down to three reasons:

1. We find joy in the activity

2. We find joy in testing ourselves to see where we are

3. We find joy in the preparation in between events

Everything else is just a bonus.

Often in competitions, we run into people who are in it just for the winning. In the world of dog sport, this is particularly pronounced. You can tell who they are, not by how well they do, although often they do excel, but by the lack of joy they seem to have. Over the weekend, I watched some of the top agility handlers in the nation yell at their dogs, yank them off the course for the slightest error, even if it was due to handling. What was interesting to me was that in a number of cases, these handlers were beat by people who, while not as well known, do their homework, and were competing for the right reasons: to have fun with their dog first, and to do the best they could do.

I think one of the best ways to have joy is to focus on what went right; your little victories. Nothing is all good or all bad. What you focus on, what you remember, and what you learn is what is important.

So, get out there, do your chosen activity, enter a competition, let go of winning and losing, and find joy.

*Well, sometimes we compete for cool prizes, like one of the toy VW Microbuses, shown here, which is up for grabs in this weekend’s Run Woodstock: