Success…

Success…

What is this?

What does it mean?

What does it define?

The word “success” is often correlated with monetary value.

However, I don’t think that word was meant to indicate money.

I believe success is doing what we love to do.

Being successful is also linked to an always-developing career.

Can it be called success when someone is in the same job for 40 years working in a factory, or flipping burgers? If they are truly happy, then the answer is possibly yes…. However, I have yet to meet that person. People who are in so-called “dead end jobs” usually have ulterior motives to do so; supporting a family, attending college, or not feeling worthy of something else… But they don’t necessarily feel “successful” or “happy.”

It’s all relative though…

Then what does success mean? Are “successful” people automatically happy? No. Think of big pop stars; they have the fame, are successful recording artists, have the money, but… aren’t always happy… They are followed 24/7 by paparazzi, are never left alone, don’t have a private life anymore. Not all of them can truly be happy. Or are they? I doubt it.

So success and happiness are not one. Success in itself doesn’t seem to make one happy. And happiness doesn’t necessarily define success, or… does it? Perhaps this equation makes more sense.

I remember as a young child writing in peers’ “friends’ books”—one was asked basic questions such as “name,” “DOB,” and “hobbies.” But, it also asked, what is your biggest dream. Sometimes I’d write: “ballerina.” Another time I wrote “business woman.” One time I even wrote “mother.” But I clearly remember: “happy.” I wanted to become happy. I still do. Happiness is the ultimate goal. Within happiness, I feel content, peaceful, loved and loving, in my element, etc. I have yet to find sustainable happiness. Absolute happiness. But I realize that comes from within. Relative happiness can come from being given a present, or winning $50 at the horse races (such as my mother did a few weeks ago at Remington J), but those moments—that are fleeting—don’t define absolute happiness. I realize that we can only make ourselves happy. Not with ice cream, not with a car. But from within. Something that is intangible.

As Daisaku Ikeda writes: “True happiness is to be found within, in the state of our hearts. It does not exist on the far side of some distant mountains. It is within you, yourself. However much you try, you can never run away from yourself. And if you are weak, suffering will follow you wherever you go. You will never find happiness if you don’t challenge your weaknesses and change yourself from within.” (Ikedaquotes.org)

So as I’m moving forward in whatever this path is I’m taking for my professional life… I should leave the word “success” on the backburner, and try to attain what I love to do, and through that I’ll find happiness. That’s more important.

Treat yourself kindly. Then we can treat others greatly.

PS: You may be interested in reading the full Ikeda story on happiness here: http://www.ikedaquotes.org/stories/what-is-happiness