Success; Is It A Bridge Or Barrier?

Ever heard of disease-causing sensors for crops? There are different kinds. Farmers use them to detect pests and fungi in their early stages if they are present in the air around crops or farmlands. This is so that they cannot cause any harm and destroy crops. The success of this solution sets an array of succeeding milestones for the agricultural sector and the world at large.

Due to the ability to detect potential infestation before it even leads to the early stages, these sensors track them and stop them from spreading. As a result, it leads to a cascading effect of success:

· Crops are not destroyed

· The additional use of pesticides is limited

· Soil is not destroyed

· Food production and distribution are not interrupted

· Additional land is not tilled to create more room for growing crops

· The rate of global warming is slowed down

All of the above takes place because someone decided not to give up. Someone decided to overcome the challenges of crop infestation and transcend to a higher state of preventing crop diseases.

Why am I emphasizing the cascading effect of transcendence?

Disease-detection tools like these sensors for agriculture are an amazing example to help you understand the meaning of success. Farmers or agriculturists did not just raise their hands and give up when crop diseases became a huge problem. They got their hands deep within research to understand how to prevent crop diseases. Had they given up, the world would have starved. A global famine would have occurred and it would possibly be the end of us all.

“Success is what bridges you toward the completion of a circle that transcends you to a higher state.”

~Krescon Coaches

Let’s look at these sensors figuratively as your Spiritual Quotient (SiQ). Your SiQ can sense whether or not the success you are experiencing is the definition of success or something else. Let’s deep dive into what I mean. Success can act either as a bridge or a barrier depending on the direction you take.

For instance, you are running a business venture and you succeed in it but you really aren’t happy because the stress is keeping you up at night. Given that progress involves some level of anxiety, stress, frustration, and so on, but not so much that it takes you away from your own life.

If you have a strong SiQ, you will be able to gauge whether or not your success has driven you toward self-fulfillment (bridge) or emptiness, lack, unhappiness, etc. (barrier)

“It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change.”

~Charles Darwin

Is Your Pursuit of Success a Bridge or a Barrier?

We often equate success with material wealth and societal status. But is this the true measure of a fulfilling life? Hey, maybe it is for you, and there is no problem with that as long as you feel fulfilled by it. But if you don’t, then you need to address the root cause.

So, if you find that your pursuit of success and its result has driven you away from fulfillment and completeness then it’s not success that you’ve achieved, it’s a barrier. A barrier does not mean the end. It just means that you have to overcome the barrier by transcending it and achieving success that fulfills you. So, is success a bridge or a barrier? Does it lead you to feeling complete or does it lead you to feel like you’ve failed in your endeavors?

Emily (Daughter): “Do you ever think about going back to work?”

Charles (Father): “Well, I’m retired.

Emily (Daughter): “I know. But I feel like it would be nice for you to find something to do. You know, something meaningful. Not just cutting out newspaper articles and mailing them to your daughter.”

Charles (Father): “This is an interesting article about Chilean farm innovations.”

Emily (Daughter): “That’s great, Dad but sending me newspaper clippings isn’t a job. Look, I know that you don’t like to talk about mom. So, we don’t have to, but you know that she would have wanted you to be a person. Live your life.”

Charles smiles gently, looking away from his daughter.

Emily (Daughter): “Okay. Remember when I was little and you would give me Charles challenges? Like, find ten out-of-state license plates or read 20 books before Christmas? I’m giving you a Charles challenge. Find a project or a hobby. Just something that excites you.”

Charles (Father): “Okay. It’s a good challenge. I accept”

A Man on the Inside is a wonderful series on how a retired Engineer, recovering from his wife’s death, is compelled to find a job. The aim was to do something useful with his time. It had been a year since his wife died from Alzheimer’s disease and he was finding it difficult to talk about her ever since.

Later, he takes up a new assignment on a job as a private investigator. He finds it exciting and can’t wait to go undercover as a new resident at an assisted living facility. He is trained for it for a short while, but when he enters the facility and is given a tour, he is introduced to the memory care room. This room was especially dedicated to elderly people enduring Alzheimer’s or Dementia, and related illnesses. It triggered him, causing him to remember his wife. Suddenly, he felt like condemning himself for taking up the job.

Julie (Private Investigator): “Did your wife have Alzheimer’s?”

Charles stays silent.

Julie: “My grandfather had it. It’s brutal. You know, my whole life, he was Poppy, and then in six months, he just became someone completely different. Was she in a memory care facility like that one?”

Charles: “No. She made me promise, she could stay home. She was scared about what it would mean to be behind that door. I’m sorry. I just… I don’t know if I can do this.”

Julie: “Okay. For what it’s worth, this awful feeling that you have, people do get past it.”

Charles: “How?”

Julie: “I don’t know. Everyone’s different. I went back to work. Solved cases. Made me feel useful. My grandmother started a book club. My sister got really into Pokémon GO. She’s 42. It’s weird. I don’t know. But… you’ve got to do something. Rejoin the world. Be around people. Listen, if you want out, I promise you, I completely understand. But I do need an answer by tomorrow morning.”

Charle’s leading investigator, Julie, shared her wisdom and personal experience with him so he could understand that his wife’s death was not some kind of failure in life. It was just the way life and death played a role in all of it. His role was to get back to the world rather than condemning events and decisions of the past.

That’s what success is meant to be – a bridge that leads you to something bigger and better. Failure is when you condemn the very things that taught you so much in life and added value to your experiences. Therefore, if money is your goal then let it be your goal as long as you don’t feel unfulfilled while doing so.

Likewise, if buying a house, running a business, having a family, finding a life partner, becoming more spiritual, etc. are goals that one wants to find success in, remember that the journey is fluid. There is no condemnation, only transcendence.

Finding a brick wall ahead of you doesn’t mean you took the wrong path. It just means that you have the ability to find a new one, venture on it, and transcend to that higher state of success.

Sometimes, the true appreciation for success comes from those who have experienced failure or disappointment. It highlights the bittersweet nature of success, emphasizing that the desire for it can be as powerful as the achievement itself.

I leave you with a profound poem on success by Emily Dickinson –

Success is counted sweetest

Success is counted sweetest

By those who ne’er succeed.

To comprehend a nectar

Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple Host

Who took the Flag today

Can tell the definition

So clear of victory

As he defeated – dying –

On whose forbidden ear