Jo Merchant
Life, the Universe and Everything.
Today
Author: jomerchant18 Mar
With the waxing crescent moon in the night sky, I wonder about life 20 years out. Somewhere recently I read about something happening by 2030 and I dismissed it as too far in the future to even consider much less care. Tonight I realized chances are good that I will see 2030 and I’ll be 72. If I change a few things (and these few things are not insignificant), life could be pretty good for me in 2030.
Recently a friend (see her work using the link for Road Map Life Coaching) posted the question on Facebook ”how do you define success?” I thought about it and came up with a few things but realized that while they are the things that make me happy, are they “success”?
I mean isn’t success curing cancer or winning an Olympic Gold Medal?
I thought “happiness” and “success” were two different things. And maybe they are. One person might not be happy with their success, while another is quite happy with the way things have turned out.
But we can’t all be rich, famous, brilliant, the best. Dictionary.com reads that “success” is “the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors”, “the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like”.
I have achieved in my life great success. I have positioned myself through education, hard work and some truly bad luck (I’ve experienced two layoffs due to changing technology and economy) to have the best job. I’ve reigned in my finances to put myself on a road of fiscal responsibility. I work very hard to be a good friend and have been rewarded with good friends. I am reigning in my need and desire of stuff so that my material wealth is in line with my values and beliefs. I am struggling with my health and food addiction to attain better health.
So here is my definition of success. Actually here is a picture of it:z
Charlie laying on my desk at work.
My world.
I have a rewarding job. I never get up in the morning and not want to go to work. I have helped to create a great space to work in. I believe in the mission of where I work [after 13 years in investment banking - I now realize how much that matters]. I’m good at what I do, I learn something everyday, I get better at what I do, and I continually expand my perception of myself and what I think I am capable of.
Now that is success.
Links
- Alice Merchant
- Martin Merchant
- Images Tutorial
- Blog Themes
- Notes from the bed side table
- U.S. Mint
- Cuteoverload
- Uglyoverload
- Snopes
- Beacon Incline Railway 1902 film
- Bring Back the Beacon Incline Railway
- ALA Banned Book Week
- Christmas Album/Linda Bianchi
- Poet Lucille Clifton
- Seussville
- Road Map Life Coaching
- Perfectly Clear Organizing
- Leigh Wen
- Maru
- Kathy Mattea's version of The Vacant Chair
- Tennessee Ernie Ford's version of The Vacant Chair
- Corpse Flower
- Chris Raxworthy in Madagascar
One Response for "Today"
Wow, sis, great thoughts here and thought provoking. Love the picture of your success!
When one’s success is defined by the prevailing culture then it creates the environment of unrest; our American culture is a culture of More.
Hamlet: “O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space…”
I remember the joy and humble pride that the people of Cuernavaca had in the small chapel they were building on the side of the mountain. It had boards tacked together for walls and a tin roof, paper streamers hung from the windows to catch the wind. Their altar was a wooden table that had been acquired from a church that had been forced to close. They had begun the simple beginnings of cement block walls which only reached about three feet high; but their dream was that slowly they could begin to build a more permanent structure for their church. The rebars sticking out of the tops of the cement was a testament to their hope.
In this simple space these people came together as a community in fellowship; worshiping with song and praise. Their faith filled actions lived out of an inner strength and power that we of the north could only admire and strive to reflect. They had little and yet they were far richer than their northern brothers and sisters in Christ.
Their “success” came from a source and power not defined by Madison Avenue and Hollywood (or the Mexican equivalent). Their “success” was defined by a transcendent power. Even in the midst of the poverty, the oppression, the uncertainty of their lives they claimed a strength and ambition that defies the understanding of the North American definition of success.
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