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CallaFirestormBW -> RE: Success - your definition, philosophical discussion (8/10/2008 8:46:38 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Vendaval
Greetings A/all,
A bit of a philosophical discussion for a Sunday evening.
What is your definition of success?
Is it material, emotional, physical?
Does it mean meeting your needs and fulfilling your wants?
Does success require a certain amount of sacrifice?
And finally, what if you do not attain the level of success you want, will you be able to find satisfaction or even happiness?
(Please be civil and leave the partisan bickering out of this discussion or you will be tarred and feathered!)
For me, I see myself as already -being- successful, at least on the terms that are important to me. I have a relationship that is healthy and where communication flows freely and smoothly, even when the things we're talking about are challenging and hard -- We can laugh, and just enjoy being around one another... and although it is a relationship that is not sexual, it is every bit as intimate, sensual, affectionate, and intellectually/spiritually energizing as I could ask for. Even on our bad days, we're good.
I am happy with the person that I am. I have faced my demons and watched them evaporate. I have released my 'victimhood' and found joy and creativity. I am insatiably curious, so I am rarely bored.
I have a job where my skills are respected, even though I am what many consider "strange" -- and my colleagues enjoy my company and work well with me, despite their discomfort on a philosophical level with many of the things that they know that I represent.
I have -work- (outside of my job) that is constantly innovative, creative, demanding, and brings me new insights with each creation that I complete.
I have three amazing adults and one -almost adult- whom I have had the utter joy of watching grow, experience, learn, dream, fall, cry, and get right back up to face the world again. I am so proud of them -- I and my Darling gave them life -- but they did something -with- it!
I have plans -- but am completely capable of (and sometimes even enjoy) throwing my plans to the wind for something spontaneous and exhilarating.
In terms of material things, I don't have a lot -- we don't buy... we've chosen to rent a small apartment in our favorite section of town... it has genuine wood floors and a genuine enamel bathtub (I really dislike those plastic ones!), and we only have 25 other units around a central courtyard where we have a small community garden and all of our neighbors come down to shoot the shit. Everyone gets along -- there are only rare arguments, and the occasional (joyfully) drunk friend plunking out tunes and singing very loudly on the deck... but how peeved can you get at that? Sure, it's absolutely tiny, and very old -- but it has character, and is filled with joy, and because of that, it is -perfect- for us. We could afford newer and fancier -- but every time we've looked, we've come home and fallen into our comfortable spots with the comment that it is -good- to be home.
I have more books than you can shake a stick at -- probably close to 1000 now. Yes, they take up a lot of room in our small place, but I wouldn't trade them for anything -- I love being able to curl up with a treatise or tale, new or oft-read, and follow the journey.
In terms of my fetish life, I know what I am and what I enjoy. I have had some incredible experiences, and learned more about myself than I could have any other way -- only because, for me, my BDSM life has been like the pressure of the Earth on a piece of coal -- it has been hot, intense, demanding, relentless... and I have become more myself -- more clear, with a greater self-value AND the vision to recognize the value in others, through the pressures and demands of my fetish life.
I am already successful in every way that matters, and I am joyful and hopeful about every day, glad to wake up breathing yet again. When it is all gone, and I breathe for the last time, I have no fear about what will come after, because I know where I fit in the Universe -- and I know that it is exactly where I need to be, and when I am no more, I know that all of the unique perspectives that I have gathered will find their way to the common awareness of the Universe, and all that exists will have something new to share, speculate over, and enjoy because of the experiences that my quarks carry on... and I know that any awareness that I have when I return to Communion will revel in the bazillions of experiences collected during the time when my perceptions were focused here.
Calla Firestorm
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