Yes, it does matter
A reflection on 30 Days of LEAPing & creating
I just finished posting 30 articles on LinkedIn. I wrote them last summer as part of a project I undertook to increase joy, decrease stress, and jumpstart my energy and creativity.
Today I intended to share some thoughts on the project, which I called LEAP FORWARD, but just remembered something I wrote last month and I think this is exactly what I want to say here.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I was completing my second LEAP, and was about to write up the results. The first question to address was “How do you define success?” Whoa, I felt like I was in the twilight zone…
Just moments earlier, I had been rushing through emails before starting the workday when a headline caught my eye… “Is Success Without Well-Being Really Success?” This was the lead article in Thrive Global’s latest newsletter.
OK, I’m a believer in the Universe giving us signs, but this one was pretty uncanny!
Whenever this happens, I take it to mean I’m in the right place, doing the right thing, at the right time. Synchronicity abounds, time stands still, and I luxuriate in the feeling of connection to the ALL.
Two questions about success arrived at essentially the same moment, and to me, they were asking the same thing from different angles. Energy surged through me, and I began to type…
Success is this feeling—the sense of rightness in my life, in my days, moments—being aware of it, feeling the energy flowing powerfully through my being, connecting my heart, mind, body, spirit, and soul.
Success is living the life I am here to live, feeling a sense of oneness with the universe, being able to do what I want to do—must do—owning all the parts of myself, and treating myself and the world with compassion.
It’s knowing that I can continue doing these things as I journey through the rest of my years, still learning, growing, and becoming, surrounded by the people I love who love me.
Finally, success is responding to the world around me with surrender, equanimity, and the power of the divine.
So—Can success without well-being be success? It depends on your definition; success is relative to each individual. Yet the science of wellness tells us we are multi-dimensional beings, and that to be well, we must tend to each of these dimensions with a certain level of care and compassion.
Some likely see success as incompatible with well-being and vice versa. Defined this way, success refers to all things external—money, fame, notoriety, power, achievement, popularity, socio-economic status, etc.
Everything I know, everything I’ve learned—from research and observation, family, friends, and colleagues, and from my personal experience, intuition, feelings, and wisdom—tells me success without well-being is like life without meaning.
At the end of my 30-day LEAP last summer, I had experienced more joy, discovery, love and respect for myself than perhaps any other period in my life. That is living, breathing, being success.
For Your Consideration...
How do you define success? Are you there?
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