Following Another’s Vision of Success.
When your mind and heart are truly open abundance will flow to you effortlessly and easily.
Question:
I am 31 years old. Married. My father has been an extremely successful person in his life, professionally and personally. I have a younger brother who to is heading in my father footsteps in his life and career which makes us all very happy and proud. My wife is an extremely talented, intelligent and hardworking woman who has her dreams and aims and which she is extremely capable of achieving. Among all this happy scenario, I am stuck in a life which seems to be going nowhere. Career wise I am going nowhere in spite of putting in my best efforts and success seems to be indifferent to me. I cant leave this job for certain reasons which are beyond my control for at least another 10 years. And by then I think it will all be too late for anything. What seems to be easy and ordinary for other people just doesn’t happen to me. all along in my conscious memory my life has been a string of failed attempts, so near yet never there episodes. I have repeatedly tried to put my failures aside
and work harder but still it has been for nothing. I am a believer but of late have started feeling that even God has turned a blind eye to my situation. I really feel desperate for some miracle to pull me out of this gloom but I don’t know whether that will ever happen. I feel my life is just running out without any purpose. I have tried taking solace in good books to find my answers but to no avail. I hate to be in this kind of melancholy but don’t know what to do. I feel that I am wasting my wife’s life too because of my situation. I am not sure if anyone will have any answers. What do you think? Is there hope?
Response:
You are evaluating success in your life according to your father’s and brother’s and maybe even your wife’s standard of success. You are assuming that “going somewhere” in your career means following their path, rather than discovering your own. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to you that the reason you are not swiftly climbing the corporate ladder is that you aren’t supposed to—that is not the path of fulfillment for you. Working hard to attain a goal that is not yours and is not natural to you is a recipe for misery. You must figure out what your own purpose and path is and follow that. Even if it means you stay where you are for another 10 years, so what? When you are pursuing your dharma, the path itself is fulfilling. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and wake up to your higher purpose. You have so much to be grateful for in your life and all you can talk about is gloom, hopelessness and failure. Change your perspective about success, find out what really matters in your life, and these problems you speak of will vanish.
Love,
Deepak
