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Today's
quotation:
A
successful life for a man or for a woman seems to me to lie in the
knowledge that one has developed to the limit the capacities with which
one was endowed; that one has contributed something constructive to
family and friends and to a home community; that one has brought
happiness wherever it was possible; that one has earned one's way in the
world, has kept some friends, and need not be ashamed to face oneself
honestly.
Eleanor
Roosevelt
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Today's
Meditation:
I
want to be a success, have no doubt about it. On the
day that I die, I want to look back on my life and know
that I was successful, that I accomplished many things
that were useful and helpful to other people in the
world. What I find fascinating is that my definition
of "success" continues to change as I grow
older. I'm no longer as interested in being
successful in the eyes of other people (though I certainly
haven't completely outgrown that ideal), and I no longer
see success as the outcome of different sorts and levels
of competition.
We
live in a world in which we're constantly exposed to
"success" as financial gain, the acquisition of
power, or the defeat of others in direct
competition. Our "successful" role models
are athletes, movie stars, musicians, politicians, and
business people who have made millions of dollars or who
have constant media exposure. We hardly ever see
success as the housewife and mother who has brought up her
children to be loving, caring, well adjusted human beings
(unless she gets her memoirs published and sells a million
copies and goes on book-signing tours, of course!).
We hardly ever see the successful business person as the
one who kept a business going through thick and thin,
providing jobs and insurance for many people even if he or
she never did become wealthy or powerful. The artist
who never found commercial success but who stuck to his or
her artwork, the writer who never was published but who
continued to write, the poet who never found recognition
but who continued to write verse--these are all successful
people who just haven't found the public recognition of
their success.
I
thank Eleanor for her definition of success. It's a
definition that I can live by, and it's one that frees me
from the need to be recognized publicly for my
contributions to the world. But it frees me only if
I choose to believe in what she says, and that I do.
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