{"id":5139,"date":"2016-12-28T12:00:08","date_gmt":"2016-12-28T17:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/?p=5139"},"modified":"2016-12-26T03:40:06","modified_gmt":"2016-12-26T08:40:06","slug":"true-meaning-successful-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2016\/12\/true-meaning-successful-life.html","title":{"rendered":"The True Meaning of a Successful Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever wondered if people see things in the same way that you do? For instance, though it has gone on for decades, over-the-top white-collar crime in relatively recent times has been rampant. It would seem that having multi-millions isn\u2019t enough for some, so they steal money from their own company, leaving their employees out in the cold. Now, couple this blatant criminal behavior with the following curious fact: many of these wildly successful executives admit they are haunted by a daily fear of failure. Now what seems obvious (to me)\u2014and yet no one seems to see\u2014is this: our present day definition of \u201csuccess\u201d makes no sense at all! With friends like insatiable greed and some kind of fear always prowling around in the back of one\u2019s mind, what sane person would envy living in that kind of environment?<\/p>\n<p>So, either our whole notion of what it means to succeed is mistaken or\u2014as is the case\u2014over time we have become identified with a wrong idea about what it means to be a \u201cwinner.\u201d Here is the true meaning of a successful life, which we will then explain. Please read it at least twice so that something of its subtle nature has the chance to stir your mind:<\/p>\n<p><em>Real success is a creative state of being that comes with living in conscious relationship with an Intelligence that never fears because it never fails to achieve its ends\u2014in spite of changing conditions.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Now with this new idea fresh in mind, let\u2019s examine the difference between the kind of \u201csuccess\u201d whose fruit is a fearful life and that fearless Life that is success itself. Then we\u2019ll look at what we need to know to realize that greater estate of ourselves in which fear can\u2019t dwell.<\/p>\n<p>For most of us, the recipe for success remains much the same as it has been for generations before us. Pursue the dream. Pay the price. And then hope to possess those powers we imagine come with the package we just bought: a lasting sense of security, coupled with constant contentment.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, go out into the world and take from it what we need in order to feel fearless in it. But here\u2019s the \u201ccatch\u201d\u2014and why no one wins peace of mind with what they find at the end of these rainbows. This kind of success, both in terms of what we hope to win, as well as the \u201cpowers\u201d it promises to grant us, is an illusion.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, we can come to own the object we desire\u2014yes, we can win the position we see as being the path to \u201cpower\u201d\u2014but here\u2019s why we can never hope to <em>possess ourselves<\/em> through these achievements alone: our newly won sense of strength and security\u2014its fearlessness\u2014is as fleeting as are those conditions we are now dependent upon in order to sustain our imagined sense of self!<\/p>\n<p>Experience proves this finding: our usual efforts to enrich ourselves do not grant us the independence we fight to win; instead we find ourselves increasingly dependent, captives of an ever-escalating struggle to keep our imagined security in place. We have not risen above what compromises us, we have unconsciously fueled it; and, in the end, we don\u2019t so much find ourselves returned to a life with familiar fears running through it; we see we have never left it.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s summarize our discoveries so far: the more we imagine a fearless life created by conditions outside of us, the more compelled we feel to try and control those same conditions. Our fear being that any change in them will return us back where we started: searching for a way to be fearless. Yet, the more we resist change, the more afraid we become of it. We find ourselves applying more and more pressure to life in order to escape the mounting pressure born of our own demands. And gradually, instead of being a vital human being\u2014receptive and naturally responsive to any and all life-altering impressions, we become static and psychological \u201cshut-ins\u201d\u2014captives of our own aversion to a fear we unconsciously create.<\/p>\n<p>We do not have to remain the victims of this dark and downward trending circle of self. The truth is there is no real reason at all to resist the world as it turns. In fact, rather than fearing what cannot be foreseen, one day you will be grateful for it, and here\u2019s why: we are not just created to go through constant change, <em>our True Self is the changing ground of life itself<\/em>. From out of its unfathomable depths pour the unseen forces that design, drive, and ultimately perfect the transformation of consciousness. Can we see how the realization of such a truth about our own higher Self would have to spell the end of fear? Good! Then let\u2019s gather the light we\u2019ll need to actualize that new freedom!<\/p>\n<p>Three of the most powerful words in the English language are: <em>I can learn<\/em>. We are, of course, speaking in terms of our spiritual life, although the same truth applies across the board in all human endeavors. We can learn how to get what we want from this world. But, to the point of this study, we are created with the ability to do much more than just manifest the things we desire. Living within us is all the illumination we need to dismiss any dark fear created by our own unbridled desires.<\/p>\n<p>As we are coming to see, within each of us dwells a Light\u2014an awareness capable not only of observing the host of invisible forces that forge life itself, but whose conscious interaction with them changes them as <em>it will<\/em>. It is through this higher order of ourselves that we are empowered to learn the truth about ourselves. And here the word \u201ctruth\u201d means not just intellectual self-knowledge, but a direct in-dwelling knowing of all that is for our further perfection, and all that stands against it. This beautiful understanding, once awakened within us, transforms the way we see life. There is no longer any reason to fear \u201chow\u201d things change because we\u2019re beginning to understand the greatest secret on earth: <em>our True Self is the stage, its actors, and the director of everything that changes anywhere!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Real power, real fearlessness, is knowing that there\u2019s only one reason life changes as it does: <em>it is to reveal the secret Goodness underlying those same changes.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Yes, we live in a world of changes; but within it, within us, exists something that\u2014for its timeless nature\u2014knows that the changes taking place are merely momentary reflections of a broader and unchanging life.<\/p>\n<p>It is this understanding that helps us to let go of whatever we insist upon\u2014with all the fear that attends such demands\u2014and that allows us to wait on revelation by a Light that fears nothing because it is part of a celestial intelligence that never stops changing and that, in turn, never stops transforming any world within which its Light is present.<\/p>\n<p>Practically speaking, as our fear diminishes, our confidence increases; we grow in patience; a true optimism about life pervades everything we do, even when we run into obstacles. For us it isn\u2019t a question if things will work out in our favor; our only wonder is when that gift will present itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever wondered if people see things in the same way that you do? For instance, though it has gone on for decades, over-the-top white-collar crime in relatively recent times has been rampant. It would seem that having multi-millions isn\u2019t enough for some, so they steal money from their own company, leaving their employees&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[672,3,602],"tags":[119,2653,342,2654,180,2651,736,268,2652],"class_list":["post-5139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-changetransformation","category-fear-fearlessness","category-successfailure","tag-achievement","tag-changeless-ground","tag-confidence","tag-optimism","tag-security","tag-successful-people","tag-transformation","tag-true-self","tag-what-it-means-to-succeed"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The True Meaning of a Successful Life - Letting Go with Guy Finley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2016\/12\/true-meaning-successful-life.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The True Meaning of a Successful Life - Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you ever wondered if people see things in the same way that you do? For instance, though it has gone on for decades, over-the-top white-collar crime in relatively recent times has been rampant. 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His ideas cut straight to the heart of our most important personal and social issues - relationships, success, addiction, stress, peace, happiness, freedom - and lead the way to a higher life. Finley is the Founder and Director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit Center for Spiritual Discovery. He is the acclaimed author of \"The Secret of Letting Go\" and more than 45 other books and audio programs that have sold over two million copies in 26 languages worldwide. His work is widely endorsed by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and religious leaders of all denominations. Through Life of Learning Foundation, Guy has presented over 5,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europe over the past 20 years and has been a guest on over 700 television and radio shows, including national appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and NPR. The Foundation's popular Key Lesson e-mails featuring inspirational quotes by Guy are read each week by a hundred thousand subscribers in 142 countries. Guy speaks four times each week on inner-life principles at Life of Learning Foundation's home in Merlin, Oregon. These meetings are ongoing and open to the public. For more information about Life of Learning Foundation, Guy Finley, and their life-changing messages, visit guyfinley.org. \"Guy Finley is...one of the leading experts at the forefront of human potential.\" -Nightingale Conant \"Guy Finley has helped millions live fuller, more peaceable lives.\" -Barnes and Noble","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.guyfinley.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Guy-Finley-260924340633\/","https:\/\/x.com\/guy_finley"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/author\/gfinley"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5140,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5139\/revisions\/5140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}