Last night was a TOUGH LOSS. But damn, was it a good game. Despite the heaviness or disappointment we might be experiencing today, despite the crying sky here in Philly, we made it to game 7 of the SECOND round of the playoffs! Trust the Process! Although I run the risk of people x-ing out of their browser at the mere sight of the word “Sixers” today, I must share a little ah-hah moment I had while watching the game last night. I said to Brandon only about halfway through the first quarter, “If I am one of the Sixers, I am thinking, ‘I have a long road ahead.’ This has been a tough series, and the teams are only gonna get better from here on out.” I said I wasn’t sure if I would be giving it my all because I would be thinking about how hard it was going to be to win in the next few rounds. Brandon responds with – “If I am a Sixer, I am not thinking about winning the next 14 games, I am only thinking about winning THIS game.” Then it occurred to me, this little conversation was a reflection of my mind. It was a mirror, an insight, into the way I think. What he just said is what I practice, what I PREACH every day, but what I so often fail to execute on. Live in the moment. I think into the future, the long grueling road ahead, instead of focusing on the task at hand. In order to win any game, you must only be focusing on winning THIS game – the game right in front of you. When you start to think about the long road ahead, that is when you experience stress, worry, fear and overwhelm. It leads to giving up. You can never win a million games in the future by worrying about it in your head today. But you can certainly win ONE game, this game, the game that is occurring in the present moment by giving each moment your all. You can play to the best of your ability right here right now. And if you do that, you have done your job. This post would be way more impactful if we had won the game last night. Unfortunately, we did not. But I’ll repeat, it was a damn good game. Although we missed a few crucial rebounds and what should have been some easy layups, our boys played their hearts out and it came down to the wire. Now we can practice detachment – another important Buddhist principle. “Non-attachment to the results.” Perform your action to the best of your ability with non-attachment to the results. Because ultimately, no matter how hard you play or how good you do, there are certain factors that will always be completely out of your control. Like that last shot of the game, getting off before the buzzard and bouncing on the rim not once, not twice, not three times, but four times, before falling “left” instead of “right”….