Two Kinds of Success

When we think of being successful, do we think of owning things, or having qualities of "being?" Is success having that new car or a piece of expensive jewelry, or is it developing the qualities of love, faith, kindness, encouragement, and compassion which  make us successful as family members, workers, friends, and citizens? Actually, we can be successful at both. For when we are successful in eternal qualities we cannot help but be successful in our lives, and this success most certainly can lead to material success. Either way, success is individual and personal, and everyone's definition of it is different and varied. To want to succeed is normal and is a good thing. By definition, success is attaining or accomplishing an intended purpose or goal. It is any venture that ends well whether it is a self made business man, or a mother who raises her children on her own to be solid citizens. It is that movie star who is achieves an academy award, or a generous person who compassionately works with children in a third world country. Life is a series of goals and successes and is perpetual growth. Some successes lead to financial prosperity and some don't, but we do learn. A person seeking success can't help but have a sound mental attitude bringing forth joy, optimism, confidence, courage, imagination, initiative, innovation, and enthusiasm. Other goals may call forth faith, love, humility, patience, honesty, and tolerance. When we are truly successful we have lead with our hearts and fallen in love with our lives and our journeys. The thrill of it all involves the process of discovering our best talents, skills, abilities, and personal characteristics. The characteristics, attributes, qualities, whatever you choose to call them, are those things which I have been writing about all these months as current as the last one on "personal honesty." Our journeys on the way to accomplish our goals allow us to see what we are made of, and in the process some of us may even make an effective contribution to our fellow man, for to succeed is to be productive. To become successful demands concentration and focusing on doing whatever it takes to excel until the goal is reached. However, success may entail failure, therefore, the process includes having the courage to move through defeat and come out on the other side. Goals and successes continually are reached, some more quickly than others, and then there are those successes that become part of us, for once we learn to love and care, do we ever stop?