Welcome to the Peacemakers Guild. This podcast covers topics related to cultivating inner peace and creating peace in our world. 

I'm you host, Geoffrey Chew.

In this week’s episode we’ll be asking the question: How do you define success?

When someone mentions success, we may think of material wealth, fame and fortune, accomplishing some amazing feat, making a name for oneself in one’s field of expertise, or simply winning something. This way of thinking is very focused on outcomes. 

But is this way of thinking too limited? Does it miss the point of life? Does it originate from our society, our culture, or our family patterns? What if you spent your whole life chasing someone else’s definition of success that didn’t reflect your heart’s desire?

Take a moment to reflect on the following questions: What if true, authentic success was defined for a given situation by the degree to which you lived your deepest personal beliefs and truths? 

What if that was your definition of winning? What if that was your definition of success?

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For example, for a Christian, success could be defined as living the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the fullest in a situation, regardless of the outcome. Or what if success were defined as acting from a space of unconditional love and truth in a given situation, regardless of the outcome.

This shift in mindset that redefines success as living your deepest personal beliefs and truths may help you deal with feelings of powerlessness, because success is always up to you. Quote unquote “Defeats” can be seen as triumphs. 

This mindset may also help you to: cultivate a healthy sense of detachment, see beyond your ego, and bring about a higher solution to whatever it is that you’re facing.

So often so much attention is given to outcomes when possibly it’s the quality of being that we bring to a situation that’s most important. What if you made a shift in your mind away from focusing on outcomes, to the quality of being that you bring to your life. That is, what if you shifted your focus to how you do what you do, and thought less about the outcome. It’s not that outcomes are unimportant, it’s just that without considering the quality of being that you bring to your activities, unintended negative consequences can arise.

Also, this is not to say don’t strive for goals. Rather, approach them from a space of personal truth and unconditional love, do your best, and have some level of detachment from the outcome. Attachment to the outcome may cause you to get stuck when you need to pivot. It’s about continuous learning in the moment. The true wisdom, is in the moment. 

Let’s try applying a mindset of not focusing on outcomes to difficult, intractable problems in life. Instead of seeing these problems as failures because there’s no apparent solution and you have not resolved them, consider that maybe the point is to experience the circumstances surrounding the problem, for your own personal growth. 

This is not to say that you should give up and not try to find a solution, it is simply an invitation to take a different perspective with your greatest challenge. 

With this perspective, what you call a problem can be seen as a teacher or a source of personal enlightenment. Reflect on a difficult problem you face, or have faced. What have you learned from this challenge? How has it helped you to grow?

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And now, some final thoughts:

In a world so focused on doing and outcomes, the deep wisdom of being is often lost. Our state of being determines the quality of the interactions we have with others. If we can live our lives from a place of being that is grounded in unconditional love, that is true success, and we’re bound to make a marvelous impact on the world. After all, we are human beings, not human doings. 

Thank you for listening to this week’s podcast, and peace be with you.