| What if success is not something you achieve | | | | events, moods form a background that can |
| after you have taken certain steps, but an | | | | shape our responses to events. And like |
| experience that flows right now from who you | | | | background music or cobwebs, we may not |
| choose to be and how you choose to relate to | | | | notice our own moods (or we may underestimate |
| the world? This is probably not a new thought to | | | | their power) even though the moods of others |
| most readers, yet it may be one that often | | | | are readily apparent. |
| seems more ideal than real. | | | | If moods operate in the background, we must |
| Habits of the Mind | | | | bring them into the foreground in order to shift |
| There are many reasons why the present | | | | them. When we become aware of our moods, |
| experience of success eludes us. For one thing, | | | | we have an opportunity to have our feelings |
| sometimes our choices simply fall short of our | | | | rather than our feelings having us. It sounds |
| aspirations. In those times, we do not experience | | | | simple, yet anyone who has tried to get out from |
| success because we have not, at least for the | | | | under the weight of a chronic mood can tell you it |
| moment, succeeded in our own eyes. | | | | is no easy feat. |
| But what about the times when we have acted in | | | | Rather than tackling energy draining moods head |
| good faith without tasting success? What's going | | | | on, it can be helpful to observe and cultivate |
| on when we taste such "unsuccessful" feelings as | | | | generative moods, moods in which you naturally |
| bitterness, fear, sadness, or cloying | | | | feel resourceful, successful, whole. Coaches are |
| self-absorption. What is up with that? | | | | trained to help clients savor their successes, not |
| I propose that one factor is that we have not | | | | for the sake of self-aggrandizement but to |
| learned to experience success. Like a compulsive | | | | develop greater generativity, to promote both |
| overeater gulping a gourmet meal, we may be so | | | | healthy ambition and well-being. |
| overcome by our habitual hunger that we cannot | | | | Too often we rush past our successes and onto |
| taste the riches we've obtained. And no matter | | | | the next challenge. Like chronic over eaters |
| how much we eat, we leave the table with a | | | | whose cravings grow while satisfaction declines, |
| hungry spirit. | | | | we chase after adrenalizing challenges, scarcely |
| Perhaps this explains why so often the path to | | | | aware of the colors, textures, and flavors of our |
| improved performance involves slowing down and | | | | current accomplishments. The cost is that the |
| savoring what is rather than speeding up in pursuit | | | | more we accomplish, the more we dull our |
| of what could be. It's not that seeking after | | | | senses. We lose the ability to discriminate |
| distant goals is wrong, but that the search must | | | | between what is nourishing and what is |
| be founded in present commitments and values. | | | | habit-forming. We confuse engagement with |
| We must learn to claim success by experiencing it | | | | stimulation. |
| fully in the present moment. | | | | Shifting this pattern entails the enticing assignment |
| PART 2 | | | | of noticing every delicious nuance of our wisest |
| In part one I showed you how Habits of the Mind | | | | choices and most authentic efforts. That's harder |
| can keep us from experiencing success. Now, in | | | | than it might seem, for it requires that we pause |
| part two, I'll show you how you can work with | | | | now and step off the merry-go-round of serial |
| Habits of the Heart to claim the success that you | | | | self-improvement so that we can tap into a more |
| have earned. | | | | stable source of inspiration, purpose, and |
| Habits of the Heart | | | | nourishment. How would your life be different if |
| Moods are the habits of the heart. Unlike | | | | you were meeting it with full awareness of your |
| emotions, which arise in response to specific | | | | own resourcefulness and effectiveness? |