Success from the Inside First

Inner success is the inner experience of love, happiness, inner fulfillment and well-being -the experience of joy in your everyday life.
-Michael Neill


Unsuccessful?

I have been thinking about success lately and how some of us on the outside may appear unsuccessful.  We may be viewed as unsuccessful because of   our inability to make a certain income and live a certain life style; unsuccessful in our ability to gain and maintain a certain recognition or social status; unsuccessful because of unfruitful attempts to achieve some external reward like fame or notoriety for our dreams, gifts or talents; unsuccessful in our ability to gain /maintain certain titles and the right careers that go with those titles; unsuccessful in our ability to own things;  unsuccessful in our ability to raise kids and provide for them in the way society deems we should; unsuccessful in our ability to maintain relationships or a level of reputability that others approve of; unsuccessful in our ability to maintain a certain level of health or physical appearance that society deems is necessary for success and unsuccessful in our ability to be as good as or better than everyone else.  

My Lack of Success

I may be deemed unsuccessful in all or many of these categories. I presently have no income and the life style I once knew is no more. I am really not recognized at this point  if I ever was and my social status ...well let's just say no one out there on social media will be jealous of me, nor will they be  trying to compete lol. My dreams to be a successfully published  writer with a certain readership have yet to reach fruition.  I have had to give up the titles I earned and the careers associated with them despite the numerous years of education, training and experience put into them. I don't own much material stuff. I own little and lost lots.People might look at what is going in my family and judge my parenting as being the cause for it, therefore viewing me as an unsuccessful parent.  I have pulled away from most forms of relating in an attempt to heal and my "like" status (or lack of)  would likely  indicate a problem with me. Others may  see me as unsuccessful in both my physical and mental health, I am sure. And the aging process is definitely  pushing me away from the spectrum of physical desirability. In social terms I am probably deemed as being "less than" most.

Success is an Inside Job

Hmm!  How do I view all this lack of success in my life? My ego doesn't like it.  It is red-faced and almost apologetic to others for not keeping up.  It cowers and cringes  in the corner, not wanting to be seen. It believes I am not successful because  it still measures success by externals.

I, however, (I meaning this being that I am discovering beneath the ego) is okay with it, for it  has never measured success by what I was able to grab or cling to from the external world. To it, success was always an internal thing.

I find true success through inner fulfillment.Deepak Chopra/Oprah Winfrey...Day 13 of meditation series

So when I don't listen to "little me" or the egos of others, I know I am successful or at least I know what type of success I really want and need in my life...a success that does not wax wane as the worldly things do. I am getting more and more successful the more I wake up to what is really important.  What is really important is purely internal. It is what Grace, not ego provides and Grace is always providing.

What is the  difference between what Grace provides in terms of success and what ego provides?

Deepak Chopra tells us that we can tell the difference between ego's success and Grace's by how we feel.  If we find ourselves wanting more , grabbing and clinging in triumph to something we have achieved or received than that is ego success.  It will not last...we will eventually want more and more and more.  this type of success  won't fulfill us.

If on the other hand we feel satisfied, grateful and warm inside...it is likely Grace that has  provided our success. We will feel fulfilled.

Does that mean we shouldn't accept the external world gifts that come to us?

No.  By all means accept them, embrace them, rejoice in them.  Just don't anticipate that they will fill you up...they won't. These are just forms that we play with. ...delightful, pleasing and fun but not permanent.


They are also signs that something is going well on the inside.

All that happens on the surface is an unfolding of that which is always there beneath the surface, waiting to be expressed. (Deepak Chopra)

 When we respond to Life with Gratitude, Life responds to us with gratitude.  We reap the bounty, so to speak. That type of success comes when we feel successful on the inside and we can get there through gratitude. Be grateful first for what you have...truly grateful before seeking more. Seek the inner experience of love, happiness and fulfillment and  then you will fin Grace happily greeting you. When you experience Grace at her best (with the joy of simply being!) you will believe you are worthy of the Grace within you.  When you believe that, your life will open up to you.

I am obviously, still working on the believing part lol...but it is coming.  I am patient. I want my success to come from the inside first.

All is well

References

Deepak Chopra & Oprah Winfrey (2018) Day 13 Manifesting Grace through Gratitude.