The Fruits of Your Labor

Would you like to be a good writer? Then do this: renounce the fruits of your labor. Actually, that’s the advice given by the Bhagavad Gita, that ancient and beautiful Hindu Scripture, for the achievement of happiness. With respect to writing, renouncing the fruits of your labor means to write without hope of reward. It means that you are able to find merit in the work itself, that you will consider your time well spent even if your writing is not accepted for publication, even if no one reads it. It’s a kind of mental game you play. Of course you write for others. Writing is expression. But as you write enter the world you are creating as much as you can and write as if, once you are done, you will have fulfilled your part of the contract with your Maker. Okay, you put me here to write. Here I am doing it as best I can. I’m writing my heart out for You. Publishing, applause, money, friends, admiration. That wasn’t what I signed up for. I checked. It’s not even in the fine print. Here it is. I’m done. Now it’s up to you to do as you will. I give you my labor. The fruits are yours. The labor is good in its own right.