The Merits of Success

In just the way you would judge the best picture for an oscar, the best song for a grammy, the best [whatever] for first prize - the merits of your own success are the degree to which you show your genuine, authentic, and sincere self.

There is no success without it in any realm of your life. If you want to be good at your work, choose work in alignment with your passion, put yourself into it and always be who you really are. Friendships, relationships, artwork, music, writing, cooking, living, all of it requires of us that we are genuine, authentic and sincere.

Just look at what happens to people who live beyond their means - they choose an insincere expression for who they are and they fall. If we aren't genuine as we go into relationships, we end up with something we don't want, or with nothing at all. If we can't find a way to align our authentic self with our pursuits in life, we become angry and depressed.

It's not that we are purposefully trying to be insincere, but being genuine, authentic and sincere takes incredible courage. You have to say - "this is who I am," and you have to allow anyone who doesn't like it ... to walk way. You have to say, "this is what I am looking for in a relationship" and you have to watch while the ones who don't fit get sorted out. You have to take chances to allow your passion to come to fruition, and you have to be willing to work on it daily to stay in the place of truth.

That can be way scary, but poverty consciousness is not the way to go through life. What good is having a bunch of people around who only admire the parts of you that aren't genuine, while you melt away inside because who you really are is totally lonely, totally abandoned, totally neglected? What good is a life where we are disgusted with ourselves for not living out our real dreams?

What we yearn for most in life is to be loved and accepted for who we really are, what we yearn for is the success of our own truth, and yet what we are most afraid to parade around for everyone is who we really are.

The merits of success lie in your ability to harness your strength and your courage, and to determinedly show who you really are. Forget defiance, forget churlishness, forget vengeance. Go instead into the part of you that smiles when you acknowledge it, that purrs with the attention, which happily abides in exactly who it is. Your power lies in your truth, and the truth is Who You Really Are.

Blessings.
- Darshan

© 2009 Darshan F Jessop