Your own incredible journey

Part of you searches for something deeper than what the mind thinks it knows. You already face certain challenges and are transformed by those experiences or feel somehow indifferent. Maybe you consider how you could share what you've learned to benefit others? Sharing your wisdom can make you feel successful but what if simply being is itself enough? Savour your own incredible journey every step of the way.

Success can be interpreted by the mind or felt in the heart as new ways of creating joy and experiencing life.  The mind tells you strategies generate satisfaction. You may see yourself as part of a collective generation that is defining group success with shared vision or specific goals. Notice your vision of success shifts at different stages of your life.  Is it aligned with your priorities? Ask what is the aim of each of your efforts. 

As you reflect back on 'rite-of-passage' events, your dreams and life experiences, you gain insight into other kinds of success. You realize that each time you separate from what you think you know in your conditions, self-image or any other aspect of your life, you will face challenges to get-to-know you can see yourself and life differently.  Notice different kinds of milestones.  Everything draws you back to what matters now.

In essence, you're supposed to get knocked down so you can learn to get up again. You're meant to expand on all those limits or ideas you thought were unchanging. They're not. Neither are you.  Perception is impermanent. True success is not.  It is symbolized by your willingness to set out on the journey to let go of the unreal and be who you are.

“Not all those who wander are lost.” J.R.R. Tolkein, The Fellowship of the Ring

Digest the possibilities

What does the desire to goal-set mean about you? This concept has different meanings for each of us. Some people feel the need to identify a target to self-motivate or make anything happen. Other people recognize value in committing to a series of goals that are supposedly leading to longer-term conditions.

Whatever your mindset, goal-setting can play a beneficial role in your life, if you choose to evaluate what courses of action would suit you, and what you will have to contribute to the process to get something desirable back. Consider these aspects of the process:

1)How would you like your life to change? Goals can be like the signposts you outline to guide you through your own evolution. You may not realize your attitude, mindset and thought process all influence how you think you would like your life to change and also what you really want. Reflecting on why you desire to aim to create certain experiences will help you understand this. This phase is the time to self-examine, determine wht may be missing and what you could do to fill a void in your life. Only after you discern something is missing might you act to change that.

2)What will be possible implications for whom?Its easy enough to voice a desire to create change in your life, but you may not be used to recognizing how change will affect other areas of your life. Your commitment to one thing may require sacrifices and compromises elsewhere.  Are you ready to deal with the reactions of people in your life to yoru desired changes? What if they disagree with your priorities? Communication with people oustide of yourself may be a beneficial part of the goal-setting process. Who will your new goals affect and how? Would you be willing to spend less time with loved ones? Are you ready to sacrifice part of your life or disrupt family routines to care for sick friends or relatives? If so, for how long?

3) Are you aware of possible physical tolls? When you claim a desire to accomplish something, you may not factor in the physical exertion it will require to reach your goal, and also what you will have to manage afterwards. These are not matters meant to scare or deter you, but rather, to remind you that goal-setting is more than an emotional planning exercise. If physical training will be required, do you plan to keep this up as part of a long-term change in lifestyle? Would gaining weight as the result of having children be something you would later take steps to lose?

4)Where will new responsibilities lie? You may come to associate a level of responsibility with the process of goal-setting as well as following through. To devote yourself to a cause or dream is not something you desire to abandon during growing phases. Acquiring a pet, seeking a new job, developing new relations, having children, working on your self-image, health, fitness or entrepreneurial skills, are but some of the goals that involve an ongoing learning process. Your existence may be set to connect with other people, creatures and circumstances. To step back and recognize the profound terms will contribute to new fulfillment.

"We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize." -Thich Nhat Hanh

Restore your inner strength

For much of your life, you may have derived your self-worth from how you performed in the office, with romantic partners, in athletic competitions or, in some other area of your life.  Even if you haven't been consciously aware of it, you may have felt that the more professional or group recognition you gained, the more personal compliments were directed your way, the more money you earned, all determined your underlying value.  Are you the type of person who thinks, "the better I do, the more people will like me?" Is this the crux of your view of success?

If you've had thoughts like those described above, you may have accomplished things, but still miss out on a lot.  There's more to life than simply lving according to other people's criteria or how they think you should live.  Some of the most challenging experiences are those that trigger most personal revelations and initiate inner healing. 

If you have been frightened of making new decisions or taking initiatives, you may assume fate is in charge and there's no point in taking steps to shape your course.  You may not yet have realized its up to you to restore faith, trust and tap into existing inner strength.  Consider this:

1) You decide what comes of you mentally and spiritually.  Conditions such as lack of food, little sleep, and other disconcerting sources of stress, remind you that what becomes of you results from an inner decision.  Do you decide to give up, stop seeking solutions, and stop fighting or, do you decide external circumstances will not control your attitude? Just as you may experience the suffering sides of emotions, you can learn what it means to stop suffering just as soon as you formulate a convincing, multi-sensual, mental picture of what it means and believe. 

2) You can make use of or forgo opportunities.  Are you aware that your inner strength can raise you above your outward experiences?  You are confronted with fate, each time you have the opportunity to achieve and learn through suffering.  You can choose to face hardship in a courageous and dignified way, and value your health in whatever state or, see meaning in other perceived predicaments that challenge your comfort zone. Ask yourself how would whatever you sense is difficult in your life actually helping you? Embrace it.

3) You can decide to take spiritual evolution seriously.  Your free will and decisions shape your observations and how you understand success.  You determine how long you fear your circumstances, and when this destructive mindset will end.  Another way of seeing is to realize difficult situations are gifts that enable you to interpret life as an opportunity to grow beyond what the mind can teach you. Embrace the challenges where you perceive.  Shift your perception.  Turn your circumstances into the reason for your latest, inner triumph. Decidr to take spiritual evolution seriously. Respond with joy and stretch yourself.

"If you haven't the strength to impose your own terms upon life, you must accept the terms it offers you." -T.S. Eliot

Grasp the scope of suffering

To connect more deeply with people, common Humanity, and to better understand thyself, it's useful to deepen understanding of the scope of suffering.  What types of suffering do you notice or overlook? How do you react? With emotion? Indifference? Compassion? Now what?

1) Mental & physical pain: This includes everything from the stubbed toe and toothache, back pain and arthritis, to discomfort and restlessness.  If you overindulge in something, like food, or exercise, you may know physical pain. Most people seek to medicate, to heal if possible, and to move beyond pain psychologically and otherwise. You may not know that believing in or dwelling on pain gives it life. What if pain is actually illusion that you devise, bring on or exaggerate? Notice what you observe, the story you tell. Do people magnify their sense of suffering to cling to the past or something else unreal? What about yourself?

2) Financial pain: You may find it easier to empathize with someone who experiences poverty than with someone living in apparent prosperity. Yet, suffering is a perception, state of mind, that can be linked to every condition. Why distinguish someone as being better off than another? Is this not a way to perpetuate illusion of separation and suffer yourself?

3) Emotional pain. Temporary pleasures have an underlying nature of pain or loss.  As you grasp nature of overuse and impermanence in anything you experience, you can gain insight into the power of resistence, temptation and the potential difficulty of adapting to what you have when it differs from what you desire. Dissatisfaction is a feeling you may find yourself grappling with on some level.  Notice when emotions control you and you, them.

4) Conditioned pain. People are constantly being influenced by cause, conditions, and events beyond their control. This kind of cycle can create a sense of suffering. You may become susceptible to undesirable experiences which alienate you and convince you that you must feel discomfort. You may also sense helplessness because you're unable to control the actions and reactions of other people.  Rather than take steps to control the uncontrollable, be open to gain insight into yourself.  Expand your awareness of suffering.

Consider the benefits of moving beyond a superficial understanding of suffering. Your sense of peace and contentment would not falter. As you interact with people then, you could imagine painful situations, and yet, not be controlled by them.  Instead, you remain grounded in  inner nature.   As you grasp meaning behind your actions, you'll effectively remove yourself from conditioning and expand how you see and connect with people.

Accept that suffering includes more than what you think you know.  As you expand your vision, you'll understand better suffering means more than what one has or has not.  Deficiency is a human invention.  Perception differs. We have much to unlearn.

"Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinion at all." -George Lichtenberg

Stop getting more of the same

So, you've taken the plunge.  You've decided to start a small business.  Congratulations! Whether you did it because you desire to be your own boss, to schedule your own hours, to provide a service where you intuit a need, or for other reasons, you'll be more in control of your work life than ever. A new source of energy and inspiration is very exciting! Wow!

Now, we all have the power to be the primary driver behind what we do, yet, not everyone takes advantage of this position to better themselves.  Why not you? If you truly wish to stop getting more of the same reactions about work from yourself or other people who disagree with your attitude or choices, then you'd benefit from a willingness to clarify where you are and why.

1) Commit yourself to your new venture.  Even where you are starting a business beside a regular job, you will not succeed with a lack of effort.  Deciding you will make it happen means you will consistently devote a certain amount of time every day to developing this venture, through networking, phone calls, bookkeeping, website building, marketing or whatever. When the option becomes financially viable, you may leave the other job and focus on business development.

2)  Ask those questions you have been afraid to ask. It is forseeable that you'll encounter situations or information you do not completely understand.  This is a sign its time to consult a professional.  Remind yourself lawyers, accountants and outsourcing other experts could be in your interest.

3) Encourage yourself.  Motivational books, business seminars and conventions are ways you can develop yourself at the same time as share valuable lessons learned.  You will find that remaining open to new kinds of information will not only promote your personal growth, but will also nuture your continuing interest and enthusiasm.  Remind yourself being happy and knowledgeable will build client leads and trust.

4) Prepare for uncharted territory. Finding the courage to step out of your comfort zone is admirable, and it often brings its share of obstacles which require problem-solving.  That you feel ready to face uncertainty is a big step to devising the strategies you will need to move ahead.  Prepare yourself mentally for challenges, and they will be less likely to scare you.

5) Decide to seek and change yourself. Business success doesn't necessarily evolve if you begin with a plan to change the world.  However, if you accept you're on a new road of self-discovery, and you take steps to learn,  you'll find your efforts will make a positive difference.  Understand every choice and action enables you to get-to know yourself better.  Everything you think, say and do reveals a bit more about yourself.  The better you know your strengths and weaknesses, the more your business can benefit.

“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” - Meister Eckhart