The Measure of Success, the Law of Attraction…..and Oprah?

Ever since the Secret made its movie debut back in 2006, there has been an onslaught of information and -- in my opinion -- misinformation about what the Law of Attraction is and isn’t and how we measure success.
I suppose first and foremost it is a personal interpretation, yet many if not all of the law of attraction programs presently being promoted have its key focus on material success as the gold standard (pun intended) of what success really means.
I think Success in life is more accurately measured by how much peace and harmony you have in your life and much of that comes from what you are doing or expressing in this life. I believe it is also the love you give and the love you receive. I always say; find your passion or allow your passion to find you and do it…live it….be it… that to me is success.
I was watching Oprah’s Life Class Series the other evening and I heard Oprah say something that gave me pause. And just for the record, I respect what Oprah has done to bring spiritual information to the general public.
Oprah said: “People cannot figure out how I became so successful. And the answer is because I have lived in the space of spirit my whole life.” Oprah went on to quote her favorite bible verse and then continued with this story (in part) “I knew that I lived in spirit at 4 years old when my grandmother said; “You better watch me now,’cause one day you’re gonna have to wash these clothes and hangem up and ya better watch how I hold these clothes pins in my mouth like this” and I went. Ummm… that’s not gonna be my life.” (Oprah’s intuition speaking)
Ok….I thought about that for a moment and I’m not positive, but it sure sounded like Oprah’s success is defined by the fact that she has untold power and a gazillion dollars.
I love the intuition part that she speaks about, but the folding clothes part gave me a small twinge. What’s wrong with “folding clothes” anyway? It sounded like there is something menial about folding clothes….or to be more precise, that being a “maid” is somehow degrading or worse yet..not being in spirit? Now I don’t think Oprah meant that, however there is something in what she said that implies: Maid; not successful -- TV Star; successful. But this isn’t about Oprah at all.
And I just had to wonder that if given the opportunity would all people who are “maids” or janitors, would they really all say they don’t like their job? Maybe…just maybe… that’s not true at all.
Maybe some people really do get satisfaction out of serving in that way. (Thank god!) I know my mother would have been the best maid in town. She was spotless and loved to clean.
So again, there goes our interpretation and measurement of success. Could it be possible that some people do get satisfaction out of what we consider “menial” jobs? And maybe the problem lies in our attitude towards such jobs and shouldn’t we be more grateful …and show more gratitude to people who are in any of the professions we consider menial? And further…. maybe we should take the work “menial” out of our interpretation?
I just think that we keep associating “REAL SUCCESS” with money, even when we say we don’t. So I was thinking of the people I know personally and who by the world’s standards may not be considered successful, however, I think they are. And then I wondered who would I consider successful on the larger playing field-- besides Mother Theresa --and “Tom Shadyac” a Hollywood producer immediately came to mind. As a matter of fact, Tom appeared on Oprah in 2010.
To laugh often and love much, to appreciate beauty,
to find the best in others, to give one's self ... this is to have succeeded
Ralph Waldo Emerson
You can learn about Tom’s story at iamthedoc.com, but I’m going to give you the short version s and why I consider Tom successful.
Tom was living the billionaire life as a producer of Hollywood films. One of which is: Liar, Liar. He had it all. As he says: “Movie stars and swimmin’ pools.” But one day Tom had an accident and as a result…. a spiritual awakening which changed his life and as a consequence the lives of others. With full awareness Tom gave away most all of his wealth. Tom made a conscious decision to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem
He recognized the excessiveness that money can create as well as the imbalance of the world’s fortunes and the wastefulness that contributes to the desecration of our planet. Most importantly, he became spiritually aware of how we are all energetically connected to one another in this huge matrix called life.
Tom now lives very modestly in a modular home in a trailer type park. He bikes most of the time and no longer flys in his private jet. And yes, he is still making movies…wonderful, inspiring movies. Just check out “I AM.” To me, that represents success, success for him and success for all of us
Money of course has its relevance in life. Yes we are spiritual beings having a human experience, and yes our human body need clothes, shelter and food and around 1862 in our country, along came paper money as an exchange for these things.
But let’s stop right now making money the barometer of whether or not your life is successful. And let’s look at how we distribute the money we do have. If you want to go deeper besides the movie “I AM” check out this movie “Thrive”…. Be prepared for an eye and mind opening experience.
Namaste, Michele