Success! Are you going for it, leaving no stones unturned in pursuit of your goals? – Or – Are you waiting, patiently observing how things fall into place of their own accord?
The way I see it, there are two general schools of thought when it comes to achieving success:
1: The Tony Robbins – “take massive action” approach.
2: The Zen Master – “being with what is” approach.
Who’s right? These two approaches are seemingly contradictory, active versus passive! Maybe it comes down to what success means to you…
In my view – success is determined by how much you have grown from an experience. More growth means greater levels of success. Therefore if we choose to give all experiences meanings that enable us to grow from them, then we’re bound to be successful. According to my son (at age 4) “success is when you feel ready for anything!” Imagine that!
Your level of growth can be identified by how you respond in a crisis situation. When the rug gets pulled from under your feet, how do you react? These are the situations where, while we’re stumbling, life puts a mirror in front of us so that we can see how successful we truly are.
In a crisis, do we take immediate massive action, or do we accept what’s happening and respond mindfully and ecologically (beneficial for all)? If your roof is on fire, I suggest massive action! If you brain is frazzled, first calm yourself and clear your mind, then decide what to do.
When a difficult situation arises and we find ourselves unnecessarily in fight or flight mode, it’s our negative reaction and unwillingness to find its positive lesson that prevents growth, and therefore perpetuates similar circumstances down the line.
Learning to be with your strong feelings and agonising thoughts, observing them, and allowing them to pass, before deciding what to do, if anything at all, is a characteristic of open awareness and a key ingredient to achieving ecological results results – beneficial for you, others, and the world (win-win-win).
The person who can be without needing to do, has more freedom to do what’s most necessary in any situation. Only when we can be with our current experience, exactly as it is, do we have the choice to change it in a sustainable way. In this way you can and do co-create your future, since how you will experience your future is determined by the choices you make in the present.
I find that being with what is almost never inspires massive action. The state of being (present) enables greater awareness and therefore more intelligent thought, from where the next small step, and all successive steps are revealed – leading to success.
“At the centre of your being you have the answer, you know who you are and you know what you want.” – Lau Tzu-
So, the answer to our question in the title of this article is:
Be, then do (if and what is necessary).
This philosophy underpins the Find The GAP article series, where you learn how to enter the “Being State”, and from there choose your Goal-And-Purpose in any situation.
Written by Jevon Dangeli – MSc Transpersonal Psychology, NLP Trainer & Coach
