Is Failure Necessary for Success?

Originally published by The San Francisco Chronicle on September 21, 2015

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By Deepak Chopra, MD

In a society that places a high value on competition and winning, everyone wants to succeed. It becomes difficult to discuss failure, which somehow translates into personal weakness, lack, or vulnerability. I’d like to reframe the whole relationship between success and failure so that both become part of a single process: your personal evolution.

 

As you evolve and grow, certain conditions appear on the path, and as they do, some people feel a sense of failure while other people don’t. Yet in both cases, the same situation has occurred:

 

  • An obstacle or resistance is blocking the way forward.
  • A fear of inadequacy has undermined one’s confidence.
  • An outcome expected to be positive turns negative instead.
  • Support from people you counted on isn’t there anymore.
  • A manageable task starts to become overwhelming and unmanageable.
  • The work environment and/or key relationships become hostile.

Evolution never requires failure. Such situations are part of everyone’s life. What actually matters is your interpretation of what’s going on, and then your response based on this interpretation. Any situation, no matter how frustrating or challenging, can be interpreted as evolutionary. I don’t mean that you apply positive thinking to mask your fear and insecurity.

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Feeding America San Diego

  •  

    1 in 7 people in San Diego face hunger. Deepak posted his  #Spoontember selfie to raise awareness and we invite you to join!

    For every post with @FeedingSanDiego tagged, generous supporters have pledged to donate 8 meals. Let’s make a difference today!

    Learn more at: http://feedingamericasd.org

    • Child Actor releases 7 De Septiembre

    Congratulations to our Sages and Scientists Art and Culture Alumnus, Child Actor, and the debut of

    their new song, “7 De Septiembre”, dedicated to those seeking peace and freedom.

    For Child Actor, “7 De Septiembre”—a cover of the 1991 single by Spanish electro-pop band Mecano—is as personal as anything in their own original discography. Marking the first time that Venezuelan vocalist Natalie Plaza has contributed vocals in her native Spanish to the project, it is a time capsule of longing and nostalgia released at a moment when her home country is in the throes of a prolonged economic and social crisis.

    Keeping the tender melodicism and emotive dynamic range of the original intact, the duo seeks the sublime in the song’s startling contrast between sacred, hushed beauty and ‘90s synth-pop catharsis. As reverent as their approach may be, Child Actor’s signature is unmistakable as producer Max Heath sets Plaza’s alternately jubilant and whisper- quiet harmonies against an enigmatic foundation of swooping disembodied vocal samples.

    Child Actor says: “This song is dedicated to Natalie’s friends and family in Venezuela and a generation that is being forced to substitute struggle for ambition.”

    “7 De Septiembre” follows acclaimed 2014 LP Never Die and arrives as Plaza and Heath are in the midst of recording their next project under the working title Emberland.

    And even though the tale came to an end there

    something still alive in this love.

    And, blow as hard as we may

    There are flames that not even the sea (can quench).

    September the 7th

    is our aniversary,

    and we don ́t know whether to kiss each other

    on the cheek or the lips

    Spanish Translation

    Y aunque la historia se acabó

    hay algo vivo en ese amor

    que aunque empeñados en soplar

    hay llamas que ni con el mar.

    El siete de septiembre

    es nuestro aniversario.

    y no sabremos si besamos

    en la cara o en los labios

     

    www.childactor.net | www.facebook.com/childactor | www.twitter.com/chldactr | www.soundcloud.com/chldactr

    El7DeSeptiembre1000

    Sowing Seeds of Gratitude to Cultivate Wellbeing

    By Paul J. Mills, Tiffany Barsotti, Meredith A. Pung, Kathleen L. Wilson, Laura Redwine, and Deepak Chopra

    Gratitude, along with love, compassion, empathy, joy, forgiveness, and self-knowledge, is a vital attribute of our wellbeing. While there are many definitions of gratitude, at its foundation, gratitude is a healing, life-affirming, and uplifting human experience that shifts us from focusing on the negative to appreciating what is positive in our lives. Gratitude provides us with a more intimate connection to ourselves and the world around us. In the feeling of gratitude, the spiritual is experienced.

    For those who are ill, feelings of gratitude and awe may facilitate perceptions and cognitions that go beyond the focus of their illness, and include positive aspects of one’s personal and interpersonal reality in the face of disease. Such beneficial associations with gratitude have accelerated scientific interest in and research on gratitude and wellbeing. The number of publications on gratitude appearing in the biomedical literature in 5-year increments,since 1960-1965 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/) shows almost no publications until 1996-2000 with about 20 studies. That number doubled from 2001-2005. From 2006-2010 publications jumped to 150, and from 2011 to the present over 275 studies on gratitude have been published.

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    Meditation and the Spiritual Life of Children

    By Deepak Chopra, MD

    When they become parents, many people wonder how to impart spiritual values to their children. The traditional model of sending them to Sunday school is one alternative; another is to draw the entire family into the personal spirituality of the parents, as more people turn away from organized religion to carve their own path. Children grow up to reflect how they are raised, which makes this an important issue.

    (more…)