Self-fulfillment

Success is often linked to money and power. I don't think money is endowed with its own power capable of solving our problems.  I think true success is actually grounded in the strength of human relationships and the support at your disposal to enable you to realize dreams.  Consider whether your relationships could survive despite hardship or setbacks in other areas of your life.  The resilience of your close relationships are what build your inner strength.  When you recognize that success is defined by the power you exert to make others happy, to create value in their lives, then faith will sustain you and hope will also encourage you.  This is success.

The biggest risks

The biggest risks you'd be willing to take would likely depend on what you have at the start, what you already have that you would be willing to lose.  Your sense of responsibility where you are, as well as your priorities would influence whether you'd move, who you'd take with you and what your expectations would be.  Your motivations to take risks can grow from deep inside.

Consider a family from one country who decides to pull up stakes and immigrate to another one.  This family may do so with the hope of creating a better life for themselves.  If they leave behind what they know in order to embrace a new language, climate, cultural traditions, job, new people and government systems, then this would appear to be a huge risk.  At the same time, the potential benefits of preferred school, work, security and could incentives could be worth it.  Note how boats of refugees make the trips to Western countries to take their chances.

On Australia day (January 26, 2007), 96 individuals from 30 countries became Australian citizens in Melbourne.  Their symbolic participation in a national ceremony demonstrated they had adopted the burnt country as their new home.  Indiviuals feel it is a safe place to raise children.

New immigrants promise to work within and respect Australian laws.  They bring their own customs and belief systems that can enrich local culture.  They choose either to integrate or to create cultural communities within Australia.  When immigrants wish to live in a new country according to laws and customs of their former country, this can lead to internal conflicts. 

Self-growth

Why is it that you decide life appeals to you? Your attitude influences how you feel. Do you wish to do something different than you do now? Making different life choices may prompt new self- growth.  People who work in business sometimes say they would prefer to do work where they didn't deal with customers.  What new choices would you like to make to transform your life for the better? Remind yourself that positive change begins with you.

Extend consciousness

"The idea that there is a connection between this life and the events of both our previous existence and our future existence, follows from the Buddhist understanding of the natural law of cause and effect." -The Tibetan Book of the Dead (xv)

If we were to believe in some level of continuity of consciousness, this would extend our ability to understand our existence in relation to the universe.  We would also grasp a sense of real and prolonged consequences from our own actions, in terms of our own lives, the lives of people around us and the environment.  What we did yesterday would then be understood to impact today as well as tomorrow.  What we experienced in previous lives would then help to explain where we are now and how we think.  Although certain levels of sensory perception depend on the functioning physical body, the question that remains is what kind of underlying essence could affect awareness after death and how we could retain knowledge of past experiences?

Do as I say not as I do

Awaken yourself to the unlimited ways you can learn about your spiritual self.  In our respective cultures, we're often taught how to live in terms of how to obtain things, how to have and to do all those things we're led to believe we should be.  These are the things were conditioned to think we need to be believed, acknowledged and accepted.  But what does it really mean to learn to be grounded in who you are?  Should you listen to people who ask you to act as they say, not as they do?

Having and doing are the crux of traditional education when feelings, emotions and inner growth are what make us human.  These are the elements of our identity we're empowered to learn about while alone in the real world.  'Being' is the spiritual side, the inner movement to get-to-know oneself. How would you describe elements of your natural essence? There is far more to you than your overt actions. 

If you don't feel you learn enough, or learn 'the right way', then you may feel undervalued.  You may feel people don't know the real you.  It's up to each of us to reach out and explore or interests in order to discover what grounds our identity and connects us with the Divine.  Your spirit is serene, non-competitive, insightful and invisible.  To be aware of your inner Spirit is to recognize how you shift thoughts and feelings, how you seek balance and harmony as you also seek to overcome challenges and meet expectations.  Emotional education is a lifelong process.  Prepare yourself to experience a new freedom by exploring connections of a spiritual nature.  Be willing to explore how emotions influence your behavior and who you were born to be.