At the beginning of each new year we often think of the successes we would like to achieve in the year ahead. Maybe you wrote “resolutions” to help you achieve your desired results.
Why do we do this?
We do it because most of us have an innate urge to be successful in life. And I am no exception to that. I strive for increased success in my business, my marriage and in my relationships with family and friends. I strive to live a joyous, loving, purposeful life, filled with abundant health and vitality.
True success has many facets to it. Financial success is certainly important, because, as a wise one once said, “we are living in a material world.” But for me, physical or material success would be empty without “spiritual success”.
So what is spiritual success? According to a great teacher, Torkom Saraydarian, it is “the actualization of your inner potentials and of your essential divinity through your thoughts, feelings, words, and actions” (Dynamics of Success by Torkom Saraydarian).
Now that might seem pretty lofty, yet I am sure you can think of someone who achieved great physical success, but lost it all because they failed to build their spiritual wealth alongside their financial bank account, and as a result their life went out of balance. Our newspapers are full of such stories.
And while it’s easy to measure physical success, how do you measure spiritual success? Certainly the levels of daring, courage, hope, resilience, vitality, love, creativity, happiness and joy are good indicators of your spiritual success.
Lack of it results in more fear, doubt, worry and hopelessness, as well increased feelings of emptiness, dissatisfaction, and a lack of meaning and purpose in life.
So,what about you? How would you define success? And if you agree with me that spiritual success is equally as important as material success, how do we go about building that in our personal and professional lives?
One way to begin is to simply ask yourself what spiritual success would look like for you. What qualities are important to you?
Make a list, then choose one that you would like to focus on. Then ask yourself how you could incorporate more of that quality into your life at work and at home.
For example, let’s say courage is important to you. Maybe you want the courage to go after a promotion at work, or to write that book you keep talking about, or to start a business doing something that you love.
Courage makes you steadfast in the face of obstacles. It gives you clarity of mind and strength of body. Think about the steps you could take to increase feelings of courageousness in your life? Start with baby steps and grow from there. Do the same for whichever spiritual qualities you want to develop.
Doing this will help you to increase your spiritual success and lead to a more balanced life.