by Darpan Sachdeva
The fundament to your level of success is happiness…
Its how and what you feel about the success and your achievements in life which determines the happiness factor. Of course we all tend to grow and become more successful day after day. We are looking for ways and means to become more successful; the definition of such is really personal and has nothing to do with fame or fortune. It is the response to that success level that you have achieved what plays the important role. Its this what flashes out the so called happiness within you.
Of course, the implication here is that successful people are happy people. And as long as you do not have a contorted view of success, such as I will step on as many people as I have to get rich, then this implication tends to hold true.
Charles Haanel , in his groundbreaking 1912 work on metaphysical mindset and success entitled, The Master Key System, defines happiness as three separate and distinct entities that must exist to varying degrees within a person’s purview. They are health, wealth, and love. Haanel suggested that if a person has the three of those entities to the degree of their satisfaction, they are, by definition, happy!
There was a fourth element that was added upon by Florence Scovel Shinn, in her 1925 publication, The Game of Life which is Self expression .
She calls these four keys to happiness as the “Square of life”
Since happiness and success are inexorably linked as we strive for one, we tend to get more of the other. The growth of any of them directly gives momentum to the other. In other words, when success increases, happiness increases as a result of the increase in success, and as happiness increases, we become more successful as a result of the increase in happiness.
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” —Mahatma Gandhi
So the big question comes up is how do we react to the increased success once we get it ?
This is a very important question to answer as our life, in this wonderful cause and effect universe, means that an “effect” can become a cause for an entirely new effect. And if we are not careful, what started as a noble endeavor, can lead to ruin. Our mental responses to future increased success and happiness, is truly contingent upon how we react to our current level of success and happiness.
The two possible human reactions to the achieved success could be either –
Hubris or Humility.
Any of these reactions if not observed and managed properly can become a habit. This can eventually affect towards the four keys to happiness.
Hubris–
If chosen as an initial response to success, we tend to be overtly proud of our accomplishments and incline to want to tell the world how great we are and that the world should “get in line” and follow our path toward attainment. In Greek tragedies, hubris was considered excessive pride in defiance of the gods.
If a rich man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it.-Socrates
It is easy to fall into this trap of thinking how great we are, because of the hard work and effort we put into our achievements. This is how hubris becomes established as a habit of behavior.
Humility–
Is the second path to take to react to your increased success in life. Its being in a state of gratitude towards all the events, people and society that helped you in attaining the success you are rolling in. Your being in the state of humility gives them thanks for the way they touched you throughout your life.
Be careful! Humility is fickle. When you begin to think you have enough humility, you begin to lose some!
Down below are few of the ways you could add humility in your life that would ultimately affect your happiness level:
1.Mediatate.
2.Live in the present to create happiness.
3.Think about the future ambitions and their linkage to your present day happiness: Sacrificing your present day existence to achieve more in the future can create an adverse affect on your happiness .
(It’s hard to celebrate your success and be happy now when you are carrying all that emotional baggage.)
4.Practice non resistance: Start to accept the truth of happenings in life and learn to bend and let go. Remember happiness and success are linked. When you get more of one, you get more of the other.
5.Be Grateful
Write me below in the comments and let me know how you are doing with your success and happiness.
Darpan Sachdeva is the CEO and Founder of Nobelthoughts.com. With a long time passion for Entrepreneurship, Self development & Success, Darpan started his website with the intention of educating and inspiring like minded people all over the world to always strive for success no matter what their circumstances. To keep going and never get disheartened and learn from every adversity.
