Success and Spirit: A Manifesto

For me, success means continually waking up to Reality, growing in wisdom and grace. It also means participating in the act of creation wholeheartedly.

Written Mar 31, 2011, read 1311 times since then.

Success and Spirit: A Manifesto
Last week I was honored to be among the women Evelyn Kalinosky interviewed for her upcoming podcast, Moving from Success to Significance. Before we talked, I did a lot of thinking about what success means to me.

For me, success means continually waking up to Reality, growing in wisdom and grace. It also means participating in the act of creation wholeheartedly.

Wisdom means knowing what is truly important. Being able to penetrate and appreciate the deep meaning and significance of even the smallest things.

Grace is living in the awareness that everything you have is freely given to you. Gratis.

And participating in the act of creation means envisioning and making things. A work of art. A home. A living. It means giving form to an idea or possibility.

Even as a little girl I wanted wisdom above all things. Back then I thought wisdom was something you could attain. That when you got to a certain point, you would be wise. Now I see that wisdom is a path, not a destination. That every awakening is a new beginning.

I also used to see spiritual and material success as mutually exclusive. Now I aspire to create material well being, comfort, and opportunities as an expression of the fundamental creative impulse.

Success is a lifelong practice
In seeking success, my lifelong practice has been self-observation and reflection. I joke that I’ve always been fascinated with myself. By that, I mean I've been fascinated with the operations of my mind and emotions. How what I think and feel affects what I perceive and how that affects possibilities and behavior. I love it when attachment to a thought or belief dissolves and I enter a new world.

My greatest life lesson was realizing that I was an alcoholic and drug addict and entering into recovery. That taught me the meaning and practice of surrender. From where I sit, surrender is the ground of all spiritual practice.

My work has always been about self-employment as a path of personal transformation. I feel that the personal and business challenges that arise when you work for yourself are perfectly tailored to promote self-awareness and spiritual growth.

One place that is most relevant and important is healing the gap between authenticity and marketing. So many of my clients find conventional marketing to be formulaic and manipulative.

I believe in infusing marketing with the sincere desire to connect with what I call your just-right clients. When you deeply understand who your just-right client is and how the world looks from behind her eyes, your work becomes aligned with her wants and needs in a sacred way. Everything you do to promote and sell your work is part of that sacred connection.

From that place, your livelihood is based on the well being of your clients. There is no manipulation or force, only mutual benefit.

I call that real success.

Learn more about the author, Molly Gordon.

Posted by Lena Cain, Seattle, Washington | Mar 31, 2011

I am so impressed with your willingness to be transparent about your most vulnerable, growth-producing life lessons and your heartful approach to business. What really pulled me in to read more was the line, "For me, success means continually waking up to Reality, growing in wisdom and grace. It also means participating in the act of creation wholeheartedly." I love how this sentence communicates your commitment to being both humbled and to tapping into the confidence that goes far beyond your human self, as I perceive it--I feel that you are tapping into the flow of the universe by really listening within for your next step.

I am inspired and encouraged by your article and your presence. Thank you for showing up so beautifully.
Posted by Eva Conner, Seattle, Washington | Apr 01, 2011

Molly, ditto to Lena's comment. We are all graced by your openness.

Your article made me think of my own mindfulness practice (I took a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction class last year) and how they relate to my entrepreneurial endeavors. Listening to my core is the biggest blessing of mindfulness: I can tune in much more easily to what is necessary, authentic, and right for me. An executive coach I know calls it "the tingles"--that feeling you get when something is just right, just for now. I live for those moments. I also realize that I often tell myself ridiculous stories to make something feel right when it isn't. I am slowly learning to find and create my own good things when they are not in front of me.

We should all be blessed by the wisdom you are pursuing! Thank you.
Posted by Molly Gordon, Suquamish, Washington | Apr 01, 2011

Lena, Eva, thank you for being partners in this journey. you both clearly "get it."
Posted by Jennifer Davis, Seattle, Washington | Apr 01, 2011

Molly, this was incredible. This quote...

"My work has always been about self-employment as a path of personal transformation. I feel that the personal and business challenges that arise when you work for yourself are perfectly tailored to promote self-awareness and spiritual growth."

...really gives me a lot to work with as a young woman and a young entrepreneur. These roles do not need to be mutually exclusive. It gives me a sense of excitement, of possibility: a thrill, about entering into this unsure thing they call The World!
Posted by Molly Gordon, Suquamish, Washington | Apr 04, 2011

Jennifer, I am so glad that struck a chord with you. You are absolutely right: inner work and outer work go hand in hand. They nourish each other.