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March 2, 2021

Sadhguru on Success (& how to Stop Feeling Like a Failure).

Why Does Nobody Understand Why it is so Hard For So Many to be Successful?

I listened to a podcast today on Luminary. It was by Sadhguru. The episode is called “How to be Really Successful” and is worth a listen.

Sadhguru speaks about how the blocker to our success is our love for comfort and ease—repetition and the robotic way in which many live their daily life.

I was thinking about how often I have strived for comfort and ease. That sense of warm security I get when sitting in front of a roaring fire, on a midwinter’s eve, picking through TV offerings with family. It’s a nice feeling. I am sure you know it well. But at the back of my mind, there is always that tiny voice saying, “You could be using this time to write.”

I spend a lot of time wishing I had more time to write. Only to remind myself I have as much time as I choose to take.

I am lucky. I can recognize the programming. Thinking that success can be measured by the comforts we have in our life—or, for some, how much better they are doing than their peers.

But, as Sadhguru reminds us, we have all the time we wish to be comfortable when we are dead. Life is for living. It is a comparatively short space of time when we look at the bigger picture.

Success happens when we take action; over and over again. It might be physical action, or action in the internal World of I. But action of some kind is definitely needed for success to come about.

As I listened, though, I was aware of how the podcast could make people feel like failures. In fact, it is really easy for people to feel like failures these days. Everything around them seems to set them up to fail, rather than succeed.

When I get stuck in that “comfort groove,” I know it is for a reason. I am lacking in something. I am either physically tired, in which case I can take action by getting more sleep or addressing the reasons behind the lack of it, or I don’t have a sufficient quota of energy in my energetic system. This is a big issue for so many people. It is also an invisible one. You cannot see energy, only feel its effects.

Most people are energy ignorant or energy illiterate (often both).

Energy ignorance means we have no knowledge or understanding of the energy body and how vital it is to our overall health and wellness. We don’t realize that it affects the physical body, the mind, and the emotions if it isn’t in full flow; in, through, and out.

Holding sufficient energy in the “store” (the Dan T’ien) means we have personal energy to keep us going in places where the life force energy is low or depleted. So two types of energy are needed: personal energy in the store (for emergency use), and the constant flow of energy; in, through, and out.

Most people work and live in places where life force energy is nonexistent and cannot self-generate. This is due to many factors. All man-made. The protection we have naturally when personal energy sits within our store is used up daily. If we can get out and exercise in the fresh air, somewhere by water, or in wilder parts of nature, we have the opportunity to refill. Meditation also helps if we direct the breath into the stomach.

So many people don’t get this opportunity to replenish. They are literally running on empty. They can eat healthily, go to the gym, and take care of their physical body, yet still find it difficult to take action, other than this.

Because they are energy body ignorant.

Then there are people who are energy illiterate. They know about energy, Qi, and Prana but have no idea how to read their energetic system. They don’t understand how it feels to be depleted or what the symptoms are. They don’t have an awareness of much more than the aches and pains of the physical body, the tiredness they feel, and the emotions they cannot control.

These people are slightly better off as they can learn how to do this. If they have the energy to try.

Striving for comfort is an addictive process because there are short-term gains. We feel nice for an evening. Relaxed. Peaceful even. But where does it really lead us? All it does is give us the resilience to get up in the morning and step into the same old, life force draining life.

It’s time to change.

Be aware when you crave the comfort of food, drink, TV.

Ask yourself, “What do I really want? What else could I be doing with my time? What do I struggle to find time for that I could wishing I could do?”

Life is distracting, especially in this digital age. And I am not saying we can’t have a night relaxing in front of the TV.

Just don’t use that as a measure of your success.

~

 

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