Do you really believe that there can be a mantra for success in life?
Almost everyone is striving for success in life. Success can mean different things to different people like getting a highly paid job, achieving name and fame, making lots of money, serving people, fighting for animal welfare, justice for the environment or may be achieving the best and highest in life…
If I ask you what was your success mantra then I would definitely get to hear that it is not just one thing but a combination of factors that brought the final outcome like hard work, perseverance, discipline, optimism, believing in one self, not focusing on others, resilience, etcetera.
Well taken, that all these qualities are important to achieve success in life. But, again, if I ask you how was your journey to this achievement? You would again say it was full of ups and downs, so many challenges, pressures, uncalled for eventualities, happy moments, sad moments…So, what happens when one has achieved the destination one wanted to achieve? Can one stay there forever? What would one have to do to be there all the time? Or one would move further in search of something else? This is what our whole life is about. One destination then other; then another and so on.
One may wonder if it is all about moving from one achievement to another then what are we aiming at in the name of success is also going to come and go. That is, the so-called success is not going to stay with us forever. And if this thought stifles you then surely you would be interested in knowing about that which probably may be in your control. So, what is that which can actually make one’s life successful in true sense? We have already sifted through money, power, name, fame, et cetera but none is found to be the ultimate driver of success. Here I would like to introduce you to something which I have realized over a period of time, that can turn around any situation in your favor no matter what. It is the mantra of success not for the outer world but the inner world, knowing which one can transform oneself to the best and that is “conscious flexibility”. These are the most significant words I have learnt and experienced in my life to save myself of any sense of resentments, upsets, regrets and failures in life.
This flexibility I am talking about works on all three levels i.e., at the level of mind in the form of thoughts, at the level of speech in the form of words and at the level of actions in the form of behavior. Most of us have observed that majority of the problems that we face in our relationships be they personal or professional are due to rigidity or fixity in our thoughts, behavior or speech. Moreover, we do not want to change with the changing situations and times. We may change our outward appearances, outward behavior but there may be something inside which does not want to change. And the inside one which does not want to change creates friction, unrest within oneself. It may affect you in such a way that you may lose your mental peace, happiness and vigor in life. It is important for each one of us to bring flexibility in our lives. We call a person ‘flexible’ who does not remain rigid, fixed. It is an attribute of not stagnating in any situation. Let me clarify this. Suppose, one is in a very challenging situation for a long period of time.
Now, the different ways in which a person can take such a situation are:
- Being resentful all the time of one’s situation and cursing one’s destiny.
- Being sad and hopeless for future.
- Being focussed on the solutions to the problem.
- Being fearful that something worse may happen.
- Being cheerful from inside and focussed on being happy no matter what.
- Being focussed on effort and not the results thereof.
If we focus on 3,5 and 6, this is what brings clarity to the meaning of flexibility, that in any situation you remain open to experience joy and happiness and cultivate it from inside. Simply put, that you develop an insight and awareness about the changing nature of everything and you also strive to flow in every situation such that there is no internal conflict or challenge. You should be focussed on the idea that no situation can pull you down. You remain flexible to maintain your own happiness. Extremism pulls us way from who we really are. One should follow the middle path, as has been said by the Buddha. Identifications, attachments, inflexibility are all sources of pain and suffering. The true happiness lies in just being in the awareness of the moment one is in. And this one can realise by being in the conscious flow, being consciously flexible. This is the success mantra of my life.
