Sweet Smell of Success

Success....What does it mean? Well it depends on each individual's idea of what seems successful to them. I have not really let the need for success be an important part of my life. Some say I am a Pollyanna...always seeing the best in things and never expecting the worst of anything or anyone. I guess that is because I am a survivor at heart and gladly take each day as it comes without expectations and thus without disappointments. In today's world, so many people agonize over what could have been...what might have been...what should have been. What a waste of energy and precious time! What really matters is how you live your life. Live it in the NOW. Forget the past. It is already beyond change. Don't obsess over the future. None of us can control what will happen before it happens. Instead greet each day as new and full of surprises. Even when things go wrong...as they will from time to time....there is a lesson to learn.

How my daughter hated to hear me say that. She would let her frustrations boil up in her and feel like the whole world was coming down on her. My answer was and is always the same...learn from mistakes...that is the only way you can turn something negative into something positive. Wouldn't life be a bore if everything went smoothly just as we planned it? I think so.

Today I got email from one of my old students. It fills me with joy to hear from them. 'Teaching was more than just presenting lessons. It was a way to touch lives and let lives touch me. So often we go blithely through life having no idea what impact we may have on others, be it positive or negative. We so often think no one notices what we do or hears what we say. But that is not true. Every word ever spoken, every deed ever done, is forever inscribed in the universe of time...a spiritual web of eternity. It does not matter how we see our world...whether in the hands of a divine creator or the natural stream of things...what we say and what we do does matter.

I am happy I had an opportunity to be a teacher. Although retired from the classroom, I am still and always will be a teacher. It as natural to me as breathing. People interacting with people is what keeps us unique from other life forms. The worst thing we can do is waste our individual talents or hide them under a basket where no one else can see. Don't be afraid to touch others and don't touch only those you know. Be willing to put yourself out on a limb by sharing yourself with others. Random acts of kindness is the best way you can reach out to those you don't know. Look for ways to show your humanity.

I could let these difficult times keep me from reaching out. There are so many reasons why. But I know each individual can make the world better by showing kindness to others without expecting anything in return. What goes around, comes around. Negative returns to negative. Positive returns to positive.

That is true success. Worth more than money or fame or anything else material in nature. No one can take away the good you do for others. No one can diminish you as a person.