How are you defining success in life?
How do you define success in your life?
This is a very essential subject for us to consider seriously because our culture constantly promotes financial and personal success as the most important things in life.
And the trouble with such ideals is that research from the previous decade shows that people whose values are centred on material achievement are less happy and are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, chronic stress, low self-esteem, and interpersonal issues—regardless of age, income, or culture.
As a result, in our pursuit of prestige, wealth, and achievement in order to discover happiness and love, we may be driving them away.
This idea of success through getting things, doing things, and trying to be exceptional is continually marketed to us through the media and advertising, so if we don’t get clear on what OUR definition of success is, we tend to absorb the values of what we see and hear around us automatically.
Knowing your concept of success is therefore critical if you want to live a rich, complete, and meaningful life.
The route to true success for yourself
One of my relatives is one of the most cheerful and generous people I’ve ever encountered.
He lived a very simple life on the few acres of land he possessed. He grew a large portion of his own food, cared for his farm’s animals, looked after his neighbours and friends, and did good when no one was looking (or so he thought).
As far as I know, he was never globally ambitious and had no ambition to stand out or achieve riches. However, he valued sustainability, satisfaction, and kindness and led a modest but full and rich life. He was reprimanded for living so modestly at times, but he never wavered from his own path and always seemed to know who he was and what made him happy.
He has always been an inspiration to me because of his unwavering clarity about his personal well-being and pleasure. That kind of unwavering clarity is more important now than ever before, as the pace of life quickens and anxiety, depression, and loneliness rise at alarming rates. This clarity has the power to return us to wisdom, meaning, and peace of mind.
Discover and hang on to what is important to you
There’s nothing wrong with having good stuff or accomplishing lofty ambitions and there is nothing wrong with living simply and modestly.
What matters is that the aims and ideals on which we focus are truly our own and lead to a more joyful and meaningful existence.
So, my offer to all of us is to pause and consider what success truly means to us. Nor what others say, not what the media portrays, but what we actually cherish deep within our own souls.
How do you define success in your life?
Perhaps your definition of success includes being grateful for the abundance and beauty in your life, or taking care of your family and friends.
Maybe you value being kind to others, living sustainably, and giving back to your community.
Perhaps it is important to you to stand up and speak out against inequity.
Perhaps spirituality, nature connection, leisurely living, creativity, or charity are important to you.
Maybe it’s all of the above, or maybe it’s something completely different.
See if you can get clearer on what success looks like for you, move closer to it, and act on it.
If you can live your life by your own definition of success, I believe you’ll discover that true fulfilment, meaning, and purpose will spontaneously arise within you like warm sunshine.
Thank you, as always, for your practice—for being a person who strives to live with deeper awareness, love, and wisdom.
#Defining #Success