Following a dream in the 21st Century

As everyone around us is busy exhibiting his or her professional success, we become more and more susceptible to replicating the professional decisions of others. Infatuation with traveling, global competition, parental pressures, and availability of numerous novel choices to the untrained mind may be some of the other distractions in selecting work according to our own aptitude.

Even if one has a well-defined area of interest, some skills may have turned obsolete in this age due to unavoidable influences such as automation and outsourcing. Formal training and diligence in work do not always pay off. In an environment more suited to the adaptable, the loyal can and do face many disappointments. When contribution is measured only by numbers, one may easily get persuaded to earn more at the cost of peace. But what if you have a dream that does not align with a obtaining a big bank account? What if your aspirations for being an artist or a teacher pull you towards a slower pace of life and a lower success rate? Should you still follow your dreams?

Many of us never experience a non-materialistic dream unless we couple lower levels of greed with an ability to explore what we want in life (besides money). In the way we define it, a “dream in life” is a strong inner aspiration not bound by personal profit, and merely having one is in itself a spiritual achievement. Because it is more selfless, it has to be relatively righteous. And because it is righteous, it will see support from God, who loves supporting us in righteous behaviors. With such a backing, what can go wrong in following a dream?

We have been created with inner mechanisms (our personal gifts) through which we are compelled to act in accordance with our instincts. If we have identified a void in our life arising from a mismatch of our career with our evolving instincts, only exertion in the activity of our interest can fill this void. Just like it is difficult to own a dream, it is difficult to let go of it if we possess one. However, while our deeper interests, once they are unveiled, eventually succeed in attracting us, we can temporarily turn obstinate and try to oppose the bigger plan that has instructions for our own evolution.

Even if our deeper interests are discovered late in life, more often than not our responsibilities do not allow us to follow our dreams in early life. Our affinity to profit is very strong but we can begin by spending a few moments away from our lucrative job working towards our dream. If these moments give us more peace, we will voluntarily start offering more time to these new activities. And as we taste even higher levels of happiness, we may be encouraged to reassess our professional preferences and everyday schedule for something more eternal.

Because dreams in life are guided by our true nature, following them triggers a simultaneous search for peace, which is a permanent attribute of our inner nature. If we do not feel delighted in following our dreams, we probably have not connected to a dream.

“Contribution to the world” is a vague concept in the context of spirituality. While exertion in certain areas of expertise, say technology and economics, may be labeled “more significant” by the onlooker depending upon one’s bias, their results, including all products and most discoveries, are equally perishable in time. Alternatively, after nurturing some happiness within by following our dreams, we can opt to transfer the energy of optimism from our heart to others. This propagation to others can be a more real accomplishment.

This post is my adaptation from an excerpt written by Mukul S. Goel.

Photo credits: Apt3 Photography © 2010.

And I quote...Epictetus

"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows."

~Epictetus

Epictetus (Greek: Ἐπίκτητος; ca. 55–ca. 135) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was probably born a slave at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present day Pamukkale, Turkey), and lived in Rome until his exile to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece, where he lived most of his life and died. His teachings were noted down and published by his pupil Arrian in his Discourses.

Epictetus taught that philosophy is a way of life and not just a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events were determined by fate, and are thus beyond our control, but we can accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. Individuals, however, are responsible for their own actions which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline. Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power. As part of the universal city that is the universe, human beings have a duty of care to all fellow humans. The idea was that a person who followed these precepts would achieve happiness.

While I don't agree with his philosophical ideas I do love this quote!

MORE INFO HERE.

Food for Thought: 12 Reasons for Failure

12 Reasons People Fail and are Less Successful
...(or - "what I learned from twitter this morning")

1. They never define what being happy truly means to them.

What lifestyle do you truly desire and what do you need to do to achieve it?

2. Their goals are not really goals but a moving target that they will never hit.

This is what I need to do, this too, this too, oh and this too = too many goals.

3. Set goals they will never hit or that are impossible to achieve.

When someone says, “The Sky is the Limit!, they mean it. The more the better, and they’ll never be satisfied.

4. They don’t believe it can be done and never start.

There is too much competition already. It’ll be too hard to do and I don’t have enough time. I wish I could but I can’t.

5. They don’t make it a MUST.

Making it a must is more than just making it a priority. When you HAVE to do it it becomes essential to your survival. Just like food and water.

6. They don’t create a realistic plan.

They think or assume they can be successful but do no real research or planning. They just start things and “wing it” hoping everything will somehow work out.

7. They don’t follow through with the plan.

Why even create a plan for success if you’re not going to follow it? It’s like making a grocery list and not bringing it with you—you are bound to forget something.

8. They give others the responsibility to make things work for their life.

If you give someone responsibility you need to make sure they’re taking care of things. If they fail - you fail.

9. They give up when faced with a difficult challenge.

When facing a difficult challenge it’s easy to quit. Don’t quit until you achieve your goal.

10. They fail to conduct their life like a business.

Conduct a life like a business. At the end of the year you need to show profit and not debt. A successful business is showing profits at the end of the year and not increased debt.

11. They allow others optimism or pessimism to effect or control their decisions.

If someone tells you that it’s too late to make money on the Internet are you going to believe them? If a famous person endorses is that 'the thing to do'? How about if they tell you that you can make $1,000 a day without doing anything and just a little money using the Forex Autopilot software that sells for only $400?
Do your research and make your own decision.

12. No quality coaching.

In order to effectively realize your own goals and stay motivated, the help of a quality coach or influence is essential to your success. Raising a well mannered child requires great parenting. In this analogy you are the child and your coach is the parent.

Something else to remember:

“The purpose of a goal is not the goal itself but what it makes of you along the way.”
~ Tony Robbins


Road to Antelope

12 THINGS FOUND HERE via twitter.

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