Last week I asked five people of varied age groups, genders, and social, and economic backgrounds, their definition of success. At some point they all said that they wanted to be happy. But mostly they felt they needed to be someone else or somewhere else or some time else to achieve success.
So, there was the pretty, young college student who told me that her idea of success was to get that job in the media house that would pay her well and give her good exposure. Or, the 40-year-old artist who felt success would be ‘some degree of public acclaim and enough paintings sold’. Or, the aging businessman who wanted a few more deals to come through for him to divide his wealth well among his sons so that they wouldn’t fight after his death. A lawyer said that for her, success would be if she could find the right partner to share her life with.
An evolved one gave me a succinct list of his top five: health, wealth, good relationships, and time to travel. He said he wanted to add the fifth ‘purpose in life’, which, at 72, he is still searching for. And so on.
I understand how all of the above contribute to a sense of validation of our time on Earth. I feel that no one speaks to me about the full power of how success is so achievable right now. Success is always how joyous you feel. And how often. How completely, absolutely, dreamily, sexily, and frequently, you feel it.
That champagne of joy bubbling up from your curled-up toes, rising through the rest of your body, limb by limb, organ by organ, and chakra by chakra. Filling that sacred temple of your heart till it overflows and spills onto everyone and everything around you. All is now transformed.
You have nothing more to do, intoxicated one, except to partake in the delight. Feeling joy is as worthy a purpose as any other. It doesn’t really have to be more complicated than that.
This then is consciousness, the awareness that regardless of the externals, our focus remains in stirring that cauldron of emotion. In finding those secret recipes that create good feelings. And in that fragrant, delicious kitchen surrounded by the herb gardens of gratitude and spice fields of appreciation, may my soul reside!
Anupamaa Dayal
(This fashion designer is about happy clothes and happy homes for happy women)