picture in my mind

Wish I had known this way earlier in life,
but I'm glad I understand this now. (:
Insya Allah, I will walk this path gratefully.

"I hope by now you implicitly realize that when I say, "successful" I do not simply mean rich, famous, and powerful. Success is so much more than that. There are so many people who look outwardly successful but are inwardly impoverished. Indeed, in my thirty years of being a therapist, I've seen that more times than I can count.

Sucessful, in this context, means something entirely different. It means being your own ally, friend, and cheerleader, even when the world or your social network isn't doing that for you. It means seeing the inherent value in building up those around you because you know how to build up yourself. It means knowing that working towards your dreams and goals becomes a lot easier once you have your brain working for you, not against you. It means letting go of the stories and limiting beliefs you've told yourself or been given by your family and embracing the idea that you and you alone are responsible for the words and pictures in your head. It means being kind to others naturally because you're kind to yourself first.

What tends to happen when a person does all the things described above is that they become successful without even trying. They may not have pursued wealth, love, and fame so much as they did the inner work to address and change how they think. But when you're happy on the inside, good things tend to happen. What I often find is that people who have the outer trappings of success without the internal work are even more unhappy than those who live more modest lives. But those who have both -- outer and inner success -- are really on top of the world."

~ I Am Enough, by Marisa Peer