Being

Good Morning,
We talk about success as though it's an event or a thing. We refer to
people wearing "the badges of success", and carrying around (or
wearing or driving) the latest status symbol. But success is not a
thing – it is a way of being in the world. You can have all the
riches in the world, and still feel like a failure if you aren't
following your life's true purpose. This is a special kind of stress.
Or you might have nothing but the clothes you stand in and feel like
the biggest success in the world... if you are following your heart.
And that is a very special kind of 'Bliss'. Day after day you may
struggle through your to-do list or Objectives Project Plan, cross
off most of the big items, and maybe even feel like you have had a
successful day. But are you barking up the wrong tree? A successfully
completed task doesn't mean a thing if it isn't taking you nearer
your true life goals by following your heart.

So what does it mean to follow the heart?

One way of looking at this is to ask yourself where do I get approval
from? Is it from inside of me, or from others? Where do I find
satisfaction? Do I find it in things and other people, or in the
silence I find inside myself? These are difficult questions. It may
be that you cannot even think of a time when you experienced silence
within. That may be because you are too busy chasing after things
that make too much noise! There is nothing "deadly serious" in the
act of looking for inner silence. In fact, it leads to more fun, not
less. More delight, not more depression or burn-out. It also leads to
more success. Because the strength you take from inner silence
restores the ability to see what is truly valuable. Friendship, love,
compassion and commitment to something bigger than oneself.

Imagine yourself on your death-bed, if that isn't too depressing!
What will you look back on as the successes in your life? When was
the point at which you redefined success and failure, and realized
that the only real yardstick is within you?

Success is not an event. Success is an attitude. We can gain this
attitude by sitting with ourselves, without distraction, without
thirst. We are all we really have and becoming comfortable with this
is to be. If we learn to be with ourselves the things we chase become
irrevalent for we realize those things are not outside of us, but
within us. When we learn tranquility, success arises in all the
moments of our days.

One of my favorite things these days is to hear the breeze blowing
the wind chimes, to feel the sun on my face and sit quietly - to be.
In those moments I realize I have never really failed, just grown.

Have a wonderful day and hold this thought - Until you make peace
with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have.

Peace and Love, Jim