The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral, which always is as it is.”

~ Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose

 

Success can be quantified as achieving a certain level of recognition. It can also involve accomplishing an aim or purpose or attaining social status, fame, wealth, or prosperity. Yet, is there one universal, all-encompassing definition of success?

The level of success someone has attained is often measurable by others using external factors; however, I believe success is an individual interpretation.

When asked at a United Nations conference in the 1970s about his country’s Gross National Product, His Majesty the Fourth King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye, summarized how he qualified his country’s success. First, he explained they did not have a GNP. Instead, he based his success on Gross National Happiness.

His country’s holistic approach to progress also gives equal importance to non-economic aspects of well-being. For His Majesty, he qualified his county’s achievement and success as measured by his people’s happiness.

This opened my consciousness to viewing success from a new perspective.

As I considered what this meant, I reflected on another question: How do I want to be remembered?

At the end of our lives, our biggest regret will be that we did not live true to who we were. No one yearns to have worked more or made more money. Instead, we surmise we will wish to have spent time with our family, work less, and enjoy happiness more.

As I gained more recognition in my business life, I realized that that was not where I attained happiness or deep peace. Although satisfaction was felt from achieving visibility in my work, it afforded me the financial means to develop my other interests. I understood that my measure of success comes from fulfilling my inner exploration.

Defining what was important, I realigned my ideas about achievement. My life overflowed with gratitude—a day where laughter is abundant, worry is forgotten, expectations of what should be disappeared, and being present at the moment is commonplace- finding joy in the miracle of life and nature and when the simplicity of being kind warms the heart and brightens the soul.

A successful day is when I have stayed in the power of trust, knowing the universe is always the best guide. Although monetary rewards are a part of my life, I understand that financial ends will not make me happy, but they will help me use that energy to spread goodwill.

Understanding happiness resides within; it is not an external force that happens to us but how we perceive it. My journey has taken me to a place where striving for self-actualization and self-awareness is a daily practice. I recognize that how I want to be remembered and what I gauge as success are the same.

To assist you in interpreting success, I will leave you with insights from the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama’s 18 Rules For Successful Living

1. Consider that great love and outstanding achievements involve significant risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs:

-Respect for self
-Respect for others
-Responsibility for all your actions.

4. Not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, immediately correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t relinquish your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then, when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it for a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up to get it.

The definition of success is personal, and we each come to it on our own terms. Nevertheless, when we find that thing that we do that is effortless, and others ask how we do it because it is so difficult, embrace it and explore it. You have reached a significant juncture where your success and happiness are interlinked.

Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.