Achievement from the Inside Out
Were you ever so attached to a goal that you would do anything to achieve it? Maybe it was getting into a particular school or making a certain amount of money by a specific age. Or perhaps you’ve spent years chasing your dream, achieved it, and continue to feel that something in your life is missing? Being inordinately attached to a goal or feeling disillusioned by the achievement of a goal are indications that we are looking outside of ourselves for what we feel we are lacking within. What we are often seeking in the attainment of goals is to experience such feeling states as: success, power, beauty, admiration, affiliation, or love. Yet the only truly effective and lasting way to manifest these desirable feelings is to develop them from within. This requires that we allow ourselves to experience these feelings in our day-to-day life. Only then can we internalize (make our own) grand achievements. So how might we learn to be what we wish we had?
The key to experiencing the feeling states described above is to use our intent. This is not to say that we can command ourselves to feel certain emotions. We can however, make a commitment to over time, increase our willingness to feel successful or loveable or whatever we wish, and provide ourselves with opportunities to experience these feelings. We can also seek to become aware of how these feelings subtly manifest in our daily life and make a concerted effort to experience them consciously.
Of course none of this negates the value of goals. Goals are a superb means for us to individuate, which is to develop and express the uniqueness of the Self. But because none of us knows how much time we have, we should not put off experiencing the rewards of life for some distant goal.
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