Lojong Slogan 28 ~ Abandon any hope of fruition

This is part 28 of my series on Lojong; a Buddhist mind training meditation/techniqueKeep your eye on the prize- that's how you reach a goal, right? Maybe, but maybe not. It depends on your perspective. When we wish to reach a goal, no matter what it is from becoming more loving to workplace success, we do need to maintain an awareness of what it is we are working toward, but we also need to let go of hope of an outcome and fear of failure. According to this slogan, hope and fear go hand in hand and when they taint our steps along the way to reaching a goal how we get there is affected. If we fear failure we might not take necessary risks, we may act more timid which then would affect our ability to reach the goal. If we are so driven to succeed that we will do anything, including abandoning our inner guidance, or even our ethics, the task at hand is lost to the need to win. We lose the enjoyment of this moment, of this step, and grit our teeth and move forward.If we are able to step away from the expectation of reward or failure, to focus on what's in front of us with an awareness of the end goal, but not an attachment to it, we can relax, we become more creative, we find enjoyment. In finding this mind set, we will likely accomplish even more than what we hoped for.