Chapter 37 ("Tend to the Causes") of the little book Just One Thing by Rick Hanson proposes that we focus more on the causes of things or events, rather than on the outcomes they represent. Hanson advises, "You can relax attachment to results. When you understand that much of what determines whether they happen or not is out of your hands, you worry less about whether they'll happen, and you suffer less if they don't."

That's profoundly liberating, as well as appropriate. And it applies to all fields and endeavors. Train hard, put your heart into the race, and the finish line will arrive at its proper time. Obsessing about the end doesn't fix it; working on getting the beginning right, just might.

^z - 2013-06-17