I cannot tell you how many times friends, family, and acquaintances have asked me if I am successful. I am not sure what they expect me to say. I cannot really see myself saying that I am a failure. And, in my mind, with all the things that I have done, I am successful!
As I thought about what success means, I had to go and look up a definition. This comes from the site, dictionary.com … “a person or thing that achieves desired aims or attains prosperity”. According to this definition, there are actually two parts to success. 1) Achieving a goal and 2) becoming prosperous.
So then I had to look up prosperity. dictionary.com defines this as “a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition, especially in financial respects; good fortune”. This definition feeds back on being successful, but adds the concept of a thriving condition.
My conclusion is that being successful really is asking if you are happy with your life. And, I think that what the Dalai Lama is pointing out in the poster above is that being a peacemaker, storyteller, or whatever you choose to do makes you successful because you are wholly (holy) helping others and yourself. To me, that is what life is about.
Many blessings.