We live in a world very much stimulated by competition. Our view of success is usually somewhat colored by the concept that if one person is to prevail, it naturally means that another must come in second–or if one wins, the other must lose. This perspective can pervade every element of our lives, including our work, our play, our politics, our experience of spirituality, and how we relate to friends and loved ones.
Probably the most significant and vital arena of our lives is our internal world–that of our thoughts and emotions–our heads and hearts. Yet interestingly, our psycho-spiritual lives tend to get relegated to the back burner in the face of a modern world which emphasizes achievement, acquisitions and success. But the quality of our lives is more affected by what is inside of us that what is outside–not so much what happens, but how we experience those events.
We all want to be successful in our lives. The human experience is one of learning to master our internal and external worlds. Such mastery naturally involves a number of failures along the way to success, yet we are always in the process of moving toward our goals. Sometimes we stop to redefine them, or we may have to take a few steps backwards to regroup, but then we continue on, ever closer to that which we perceive as success.
It’s the time of renewal, of thinking ahead, of imagining how our lives could be. It’s a magical time, really, a time of creation—an opportunity to visualize all that we dream, all that we want to be, all that we wish for our lives. Of course, sometimes we might think, “Well, it’s just another day; there’s no point to them since we’ll just go back to the way it was.
Every one of us has the ability to live a life of complete abundance! Imagine feeling satisfied and happy with your life. Imagine surveying all that is before you and being able to sit back and say, “Ah, it is good.” This experience of abundance is something that is available to everyone, no matter what current circumstances and situations might be.
I often hear people saying they feel that they need to “get a life.” At once the meaning here is often that they want to know what direction to go in life, such as making career or relationship decisions, but there is also the connotation of discovering what makes them happy.