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Is Success our Best?

By  Vanessa Webb | 

 

Always remember your humanity…for good or for bad…you will fall, you will blunder, you will do things splendidly, and you will rock the boat…but to love and be kind is the best we can do with it all.  Our best is really all that things ever come back to…and our best is better on some days than it is on others. But our intent behind what we do is what makes it all count. From our intent we bring our heart, and from our heart we acknowledge our humanity.  

 

 

It’s from our humanity that we draw our courage. To thrive in today’s world takes courage…not to survive as a daily existence, but to really thrive as a daily experience. Showing up to anything we do is the most important part of it all….because showing up with good intent to do our best, the best we can with what we have, can do no harm. It is in this aspect of our humanity that we bring our most valuable tools, skills, and attributes, because we haven’t succumbed to our self-doubt or undermining our capabilities.  

Once we begin to doubt ourselves, and insecurity sets in, automatically we drop into making choices that are not true to our nature, they become choices which are more culturally acceptable, whether they are good or not, whether they are innate to our own heart or not.  From here we begin to chip away at our humanity. We mold ourselves into something we’re not. This shuts down a piece of us and it shuts down a connection to that piece…we’re no longer a fully integrated human being.  And when we’re not fully integrated, we’re not functioning optimally. This is when we begin to get depressed, lethargic, angry, any number of imbalances arise. To this we search for a “remedy” which we know won’t fix anything, but we no longer know what will fix it. And we begin to make outward mistakes which really aren’t so great. 

Mistakes made from the best self are not the same as mistakes made from a self which has become more narrowly focused. From our best self we’ve opened up our perspective which brings forth our compassion.  But we need to move away from equating our “best” with “success”, as defined by modern day cultural perceptions.  To equate our “best” with the material “success” of the system of society, is to define our self by a measure of nothing.  Society is made up of humans and humans are fickle…and all of us are fumbling along figuring it out as we go.  We’re a humanity which, for the most part, has proven it will turn its face toward whatever new and easy and gleaming trend is next.  There is no loyalty in that, no stability, nothing long lasting…so why base our belief about our success, and the evolution of our own dream, on humanity's measure of it.   This measure is nothing at all…nothing could be more defeating. Considering the real success in life is not valued culturally.  This lack of popularity engages us in acts of success which leave us feeling empty, and yearning to fill that emptiness. Our purchasing, eating, sex lives…so easily turn into unbalanced, unhealthy acts of grasping, as we attempt to use them for gain.  We don’t experience them as expressions of fulfillment, of an inner harmony of being well on the inside.  These leave a trail on our heart that constantly remind us that our internal best and outward success don’t necessarily dance together in glitzy glam fashion.  Gauging our wellness instead, by knowing we show up and we offer our best in any situation…our “best” is our “success”. 

 

 

Traditional value systems of any culture which are quickly losing popularity, are life’s guide to success…rely on these as you measure your steps…they’ve been brought forward through millennia for a reason.  Anything that stands the test of time has integrity, and when aligned with this, our best is infused with love and kindness, and this is the true form of success (whether we like to admit it culturally).  Dreams are meant to endure…so don’t base its unfoldment or its fruition on what others think.  What humans think is whimsical, and is about whatever suits our fancy in the moment.  Instead, define your dream by whether it has value to life…measure your success in that way, and show up as your best for that purpose.  Define and form your dream to what is successful in the eyes of life, of enduring values which are life’s mathematical precision of success.  Live the dream which serves life and fosters life, this is your best.

photo credit: artistsnetwork