Authentic Success
Last week, a good friend of mine asked how she would ever know if she was following her own authentic voice. I’ve thought about this off and on for about a week, wondering about why I’m so confident that I’m following my own authenticity.
I think the key for me is in looking back. I can look back to when my 5th grade teacher let my friends and I act out a play during the school day that I had written. I was so proud! That was the beginning of writing being tied to feeling good about something that came easily to me and something I enjoyed doing. Writing wasn’t work for me.
As I continued through school, college, and even my master’s degree, writing was never the chore it seemed to be for others. Later, I went to a writer’s conference where my dad lived and I clearly remember him asking me about it at the end of the day. I told him being there had felt like I was home. Which is weird because I was in a huge city, in a huge building, surrounded by tons of people I didn’t know.
All of these experiences led to a dream of mine - making a living with my writing skills. Now that I recognize and have achieved that, I can redefine it to becoming wealthy while making a living with my writing skills.
I think the bottom line is that authenticity is going to be different for every single person. I know when I picture myself down the road achieving my current goal, I get choked up. When I hear, read, or am told things about what is certainly (now) possible for me, I feel all the emotions. That level of feeling has never been there in any other capacity.
As is generally the case when I’m looking for answers to questions, the universe provides. I hadn’t really found anything that satisfied me in terms of my friend’s question, until just a few minutes before I sat down to type this out.
My copy of Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach provided what I needed in today’s entry.
Sarah’s words:
September 24
Authentic Success
Authentic success is different for each of us. No single definition fits all, because we come in all sizes. One autumn afternoon years ago, while wandering through an abandoned cemetery, I discovered a wonderful definition of authentic success inscribed on the headstone of a woman who had died in 1820: “The only pain she ever caused was when she left us.”
Authentic success is having time enough to pursue personal pursuits that bring you pleasure, time enough to make the loving gestures for your family you long to, time enough to care for your home, tend your garden, nurture your soul. Authentic success is never having to tell yourself or those you love, “maybe next year.” Authentic success is knowing that if today were your last day on earth, you could leave without regret. Authentic success is feeling focused and serene when you work, not fragmented. It’s knowing that you’ve done the best that you possibly could, no matter what circumstances you faced; it’s knowing in your soul that the best you can do is all you can do, and that the best you can do is always enough.
Authentic success is accepting your limitations, making peace with your past, and reveling in your passions so that your future may unfold according to a Divine Plan. It’s discovering and calling forth your gifts and offering them to the world to help heal its ravaged heart. It’s making a difference in other lives and believing that if you can do that for just one person each day, through a smile, a shared laugh, a caress, a kind word, or a helping hand, blessed are you among women.
Authentic success is not just money in the bank but a contented heart and peace of mind. It’s earning what you feel you deserve for the work you do and knowing that you’re worth it. Authentic success is not about accumulating but letting go, because all you have is all you truly need.
Authentic success is feeling good about who you are, appreciating where you’ve been, celebrating your achievements, and honoring the distance you’ve aready come. Authentic success is reaching the point where being is as important as doing. It’s the steady pursuit of a dream. It’s realizing that no matter how much time it takes for a dream to come true in the physical world, no day is ever wasted. It’s valuing inner, as well as outer, labor - both your own and others’. It’s elevating labor to a craft and craft to an art by bestowing Love on every task you undertake.
Authentic success is knowing how simply abundant your life is exactly as it is today. Authentic success is being so grateful for the many blessings bestowed on you and yours that you can share your portion with others.
Authentic success is living each day with a heart overflowing with gratitude.
Back to me
THAT is the best definition of an authentic life I’ve ever read.
And yes, my friend is certainly an outstanding example of being an authentic success.