You strive to do the best you can with what you have, and often it feels like a struggle just to get through the day. Then there are times when things seem effortless and you achieve your goals almost like it was predestined.
You probably could also all name a few people you admire, who it seems “have their act together” and are living the kind of life you would like to live.
How can it be that you find yourself “all over the map” when it comes to attaining the success you seek? The answer is actually not all that complicated if you really think about it. Your life conditions in large measure are a reflection of the beliefs you hold about yourself.
Think of it this way: The world is a canvas upon which you project the image of who you are. You are the painter; you are also the paint. You are a work of art in constant creation, a “work in progress,” as it were. This means that if you do not like the qualities of the artwork you are creating, you can change them to better suit your liking.
Even if you have to learn new skills, or change viewpoints, you as the painter are malleable, and thus your painting is also malleable. It’s not always easy to change in ways we desire, but it is possible, and even probable once you really set your heart and mind to it.
The curious nature of our mind often leads us to conclude that we are victims of circumstances. Maybe sometimes we do suffer the consequences of circumstances we cannot control. But most often, if we analyze our past actions from a cause-effect perspective, we can draw a solid line through a series of choices that led us from where we were some time ago to where we are now. The deeper truth of our human condition is that circumstances are victim to our choices.
Given that we are the bearers of our own power to steer our lives we so choose, what beliefs are the most productive for ourselves?
1. You experience the world around you according to the person you are.
The world is neither good nor bad in and of itself. It just is what it is. It’s neither beautiful nor ugly strictly on its own merits. It’s both at the same time and in different places. The world as a creation is in perfect equilibrium between positives and negatives.
Depending on the values we ascribe to things, however, we can find a sunset beautiful and a hurricane ugly. A cute puppy can be deemed good whereas a ravenous wolf can be judged as bad. The more you live your life according to the belief that you experience the world according to the person you are, the more you can evolve the person you are to live in the kind of world you want to experience.
2. You are worthy of your own success, whatever that might be.
Success is an elusive quality for many people, mostly because they contend that it is out there somewhere and must be reached somehow, usually through hard work and perseverance. It is true that hard work and perseverance often lead to success, but it’s also true that almost as often they do not.
The difference that makes the difference here is that success is a matter of self-worth more than achievements. If you value yourself enough as a human being, you will produce evidence of the success that demonstrates your value.
It is not achievements that predicate success, but success that predicates achievements. The more you live your life according to the belief that you are worthy of your own success, whatever that might be, the more your success will be a reflection of the worth you assign to yourself.
3. There will always be someone better than you at something, and there will always be someone worse than you at something.
No matter what endeavor you might engage in, be it for professional purposes or for leisure pursuits, someone will come along at some point and show you they are better at it than you are.
At some other point, however, someone else will come along and show you that they are not as good at it than you are. It’s a law of nature that there will always be people better than you at some things, and there will always be people worse than you at other things.
So the question becomes, why bother comparing yourself to anyone at all? The skills and talents you have are your own, and regardless how many people are better or worse than you, your only mandate is to maximize your skills and talents for your own purposes.
The more you live your life according to the belief that you have your own unique set of skills and talents that are valuable in their own right, the more you can do things that are neither better nor worse than anybody, they are simply a reflection of you. And that is more than good enough already.
Fulfillment in life is often elusive because for mysterious reasons we make it so. But when we wake up to the power we possess to paint our world according to the great artists we all are, then the magic begins to happen.
It’s not a matter of creating a fairy tale for ourselves when life presents us with difficult challenges, because life can cause us great pain at times, but is it a matter of assuming our rightful measure of the miracle that is life.
We will not find ourselves “all over the map” when it comes to attaining the success, not if we guide ourselves by the beliefs that sustain our growth and evolution. In the art gallery of life, we can create a masterpiece in our own eyes, if only we were to open our hearts enough to truly believe in ourselves.
