People often hold the belief that if they get the right job, find the right mate, or earn enough money, they’ll be happy and satisfied. But success is really an “internal job.”
The world is full of “successful” people who don’t enjoy their work, find no joy in their daily activities and wander from one diversion to another with no true direction or chance at experiencing life success.
In our work with clients, we most often see this situation with people who have chosen their direction in life based on suggestions from others, how much money they thought they could earn, or because they never really thought about their natural talents and how to apply them to their lives.
Let’s face it, we’ve all had people in our lives tell us what we should or shouldn’t do in order to be happy. Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there living someone else’s version of success.
Too often when asked to define an ideal career, people think immediately about salary and benefits. As a result, there are plenty of people who earn a great living with exceptional benefits, but hate their jobs and are very unhappy.
From a behavioral science point of view, these people lack integration between their natural perceptual styles, their perceptual skills and their behaviors.
From a more poetic point of view, they’re traveling a path with no heart.
People often hold the belief that if they get the right job, find the right mate, or earn enough money, they’ll be happy and satisfied. But life success is really an “internal job.” Those other factors are just symptoms of success.
To quote from Carlos Casteneda’s book The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge: “All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. . . My benefactor’s question has meaning now. Does this path have heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn’t. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.”
Take Action:
Examine your current path in life. Does your job, or do your relationships and other daily activities draw on your natural strengths and your perceptual style? Do your present circumstances bring you joy? Does your path have heart?
Answering these questions is the first step in finding the path that will lead you to life success. When we are doing what we love, we are often performing at our best. This leads to a kind of fulfillment that allows us to live life passionately and happily.
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