Success is an interesting concept, characterized by innumerable definitions. As many as there are people defining it.
The best part is, each of those individuals may morph their definition of success as they move through their lifetime.
Some may look at professional athletes, some may look at strictly money, many might look at circumstances better than from whence they came.
I’m betting though, as most of us grow and mature, our definition of success will grow and mature as well. Hopefully, right?
I am in no position to determine what this might be for anyone else, which is one reason why it’s such a great topic. Everyone has their own definition.
Growing up in a house where there wasn’t a lot of extra, I suppose my earliest definition of success would have been the achievement of a lot of money, and with that, perhaps the acquisition of many of the things I was not able to have as a kid.
I’m not even sure where that definition came from, because I don’t ever remember feeling like I was lacking as a kid. There were plenty of things I wanted that I didn’t get, but that didn’t mean to me that I lacked anything. Not getting what I wanted was just a way of life back then.
As I grew older, I suppose my thoughts evolved when I started to see people who had things or stuff, or whatever, that I thought would be cool, but wasn’t able to manifest at that point in my life. I still didn’t feel I was lacking.
I asked the question, "how the heck did they get that?" Maybe I can do that too?
Then, as I started to embark on a life that emphasized a principled way of living, a possibility way of living, a “faith and intention and manifesting” way of living, everything changed.
At that point the door started to creak open a little bit into a room that looked like it was full of really cool stuff, but the vast majority of that cool stuff needed no money to purchase:
Honesty
Integrity
Healthy Relationships
Discernment
Faith
Peace of Mind
Really? All that stuff is part of the definition of success? Why yes, it is. At least for me.
Oh, and by the way, in that room where the door cracked open, there was also the opportunity to bring monetary abundance into my life.
So I could build all of these things together in my life, some obviously manifesting at different times; some as a consequence of others; some in spite of myself; and some that start to show up unbeknownst to me or what I perceive as my efforts.
Fast forward a few decades as (I won’t bore you with what took place to move all of these spinning plates forward. It’s in my books 😊) life morphed, changed, kept practicing, kept moving, kept failing, sometimes a breakthrough, sometimes a success, but more often than not, getting my butt handed to me.
Here we are today and success for quite a long time has meant to me:
“Waking up in the morning with a smile on my face”
That’s how I define it.
Simple? Yes. Is there a lot included in that definition? There is.
Now, I cannot have that “smile” if I wake up and something is “pinging” me, meaning, something is disrupting my peace of mind or heart. Good news is, very rarely do those “pings” happen anymore. At least as regards a thread weaving through my life that leaves me feeling “off.”
What are those potential “pings?” Well, they could be any number of things, from:
· A toxic person in my life
· Trouble with my boss
· Money issues
· Procrastinating on something
· Hung up on some SM thing
· Relationship, romantic or otherwise, issues
· Addiction issues
· Body issues
Who knows, right?
The path starts pretty wide then over the years of continued refinement, the path gets as narrow as a razor blade. That’s not bad news, that’s freedom for me. That’s success for me.
That is how things have morphed for me over the years. I know what success is for me today.
Probably to the point where I don’t often think of that word as something toward which I’m moving or would want to move.
I wake up in the morning with a smile on my face. Code for nothing is pinging me.
That’s a long way away from wanting that Big Wheel that I didn’t get 😊