A young guy was searching for enlightenment. One day he heard of an old guru living high in the mountains, and there was no one more enlightened than him. After many days, the guy had to make a long and treacherous climb to reach him, but he finally found the guru.
The guy decided to observe the guru, hoping that if he could emulate him in all things, he could reach enlightenment and find peace and a reason to stop his traveling aimlessly from place to place.
So, he began wearing the same rough robes, walking as the guru did, wearing the same ragged robes and taking up the same diet. Several years later, the guru asked the guy how enlightened he felt he had become. On reflection, the guy admitted that he didn’t progress as far as he expected. Then, the guru asked: You changed everything about yourself. “Why did you change it?
The guy replied, “You are so enlightened and at peace, and one with the world. So I thought by learning how to be like you, and I would find that peace and contentment and enlightenment within myself.”
The guru smiled and beckoned him to follow. When they were outside in the heart of the small mountain village, he waved his hand at the other residents, “Look at them,” he said, “She is a seamstress, He is a baker, He is a hunter. They are all different, yet all have just as much fulfillment and purpose in their lives as others. Are any of them less enlightened?”
Then the guru continued, “You spent all this time changing what is on the outside of yourself. Yet, on the inside, you had remained the same as when you arrived. So do you realize now you haven’t changed what matters the most?”
The guy finally understood. The enlightenment he wanted to find was not something that he needed to chase around the world after. Instead, the enlightenment he wanted to see was something he had to find within himself.
Becoming enlightened or a master of anything is not the outer self that needs to change, but the inner self. So do not think that by putting on your best suit and projecting the best image, having the best website or presence will fix your business if your inner world is not being worked on.
Many online courses, self-help guides, and seminars guarantee you success if you follow their path. But, don’t be fooled by them. They are a set of guides and lessons that you can use to learn for yourself. They are not a guarantee for success.
Don’t try to be someone or something else, don’t try to live someone else’s success. Your path is unique to you.
Understand that, and your successes will come in leaps and bounds.
