The Definition of Success

"The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it." 

— David Orr, Ecological Literacy 

I thank my friend Tiffany for sharing this quote with me today via Facebook.  This week I am writing from a resort on the western shore of Leech Lake in northern Minnesota.  This summer I have been blessed with the opportunity to engage deeply with two groups of leaders around discussions of intercultural communication and strengths-based leadership.  Last night I began the second retreat in a train-the-trainer program around intercultural effectiveness led by my friend and colleague Okokon Udo.  Our group spent two and a half days together in July and gather again now to continue an ongoing dialogue around the complex cultural realities that both enrich our human experience and challenge our navigation skills.  On Wednesday evening I will reunite with my leadership flock as we begin the second part of our journey together in LeaderImpact, another deep-learning program put on by the Northwest Minnesota Foundation.

Next week I will turn twenty two and I find myself at an exciting crossroads with the privilege to pick my own adventure, to boldly take the next step and open a new page in this chapter of my life each day.  I am joyfully relishing the opportunity to have this week of reflection in the lead up to my birthday. It is an opportunity to evaluate the direction I have set my sails and celebrate the experiences I have lived up until now.

This quote is particularly impactful for me because I have at times subscribed to a definition of success as determined by academic achievement, positional power, and financial stability.  Yet when I ask my inner guru what is the root of deep happiness, the seed of joy and peace in one’s life and the world, the answer is not financial stability or recognition of one’s achievements.  Such a narrow definition of success sets one down a path toward burn out and an early death (of one’s spirit or even one’s physical body). 

I believe we are here to find joy in bringing joy to others. 

So thank you, Tiff.  I will reflect on where I am called to be a peacemaker, restorer, storyteller, and lover of humanity as I prepare for a new year in the Calendar of Anna.

Namasté,

Anna