Being Point

Tag: fulfillment

  • “Not What We Have, But What We Enjoy, Constitutes Our Abundance” ~ Jean Petit-Senn

    How often do we consider how abundant our lives are – and do so without any cloying, overly sweet sentiments? Just the facts: what do we enjoy in large measure that, for many others, might be considered a huge blessing?

    One of the issues associated with abundance is that we can take things for granted. There can be so much of something or a situation or a person that we can fool ourselves into thinking that our life experience will always include those people or things in the same degree.

    Writer, Jean Petit-Senn, said: “Not what we have, but what enjoy, constitutes our abundance.”

    What are you enjoying now in your life? Where have you recently felt laughter, peace, satisfaction, fulfillment? What is abundant in your life to the degree that you are not only aware of it, but you actually enjoy and appreciate its presence?

  • Personal Victory Need Not Have Someone Else Be Dominated Or Lose

    The use of the term “victory” in connection with personal fulfillment has been problematic because the origin of the word “victor” connotes “conquer.” Conquering is inconsistent with our intended understanding of victory.

    Some other words that could describe personal victory include: fulfillment, win, attainment, arrival, triumph and success.  The opposites of victory are even more telling:  failure, loss and defeat.

    The challenge and opportunity is to use the word “victory” with no sense of domination, violence or creating a loss for another person.

    What victories have you created in your life that have not caused someone else to lose?  Is there another way that you prefer to better communicate your sense of victory that we are describing?  Describe the feeling of personal victory:  what are the sensations that are present at a moment of victory?

  • The Costs Of Risk Avoidance

    Among the best-known quotes about risk is this observation by author, Anais Nin: “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more powerful than the risk it took to blossom.”

    We humans have spent so much time protecting our assumptions of safety that we have often lost sight of the possibility of phenomenal fulfillment if we take the risks of going for our personal and professional dreams.

    Nin is saying that there is often a greater harm in seeking safety than in taking the risk to experience life fully.

    What is your history in adventuring in the human condition? What kinds of risk have you avoided? What are the costs of your avoidance? How have you seen risk avoidance behavior in your life and the lives of those around you?