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If at first you don’t succeed,

Don’t try again…

At least not yet.

Smell the breeze,

walk your dog

Smile at someone

for no reason

Breathe in and out

while paying attention

To that breath,

and then the next one.

Dance, sing, shout,

Do the dishes

Plant some tomatoes

Play catch with somebody.

If you still think that was really

Success you were after,

I mean really,

Well then, go ahead, try again ,

If you must.

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author

This is wonderful!

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Success

Success is

Success is not

Success is not what

Success is not what society

Success is not what society says

Success is not what society says it

Success is not what society says it is.

Success is love.

Success is rest.

Success is breath.

Success is

Success

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author

Yes!! Love the way this image moves with the poem!

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Do more.

Be more.

Make more.

Success as value, measurable

Recognizable (we hope)

Yet elusive

Never enough-ness

Driven to prove worthiness

We strive

Fearful emptiness lurks

God please help

Redefine redirect

To places of peace

Loved before the doing

Just in being

Giving helping kindnesses

Simple life

Breathing receiving

Content.

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Success. True success for me is measured by one’s ability to keep showing up. That no matter how far we may stray from what really is ours, and ours alone, to do, we trust that our Soul will guide us back. Success is in knowing that the detours off the path were part of the path Success is in learning to hear the whispers before they become shouts. Success is in daring to be an individual in a world that tries to create unity through uniformity. Success is walking as a two legged with your heart exposed to the world. Your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground.

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"success is in daring to be an individual in a world that tries to create unity through uniformity." That is such a true and important observation. I had to write that down as a reminder. Thank you

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(I love this idea! Really looking forward to doing this every day. Here’s my poem for the day)

Success

is the art of going from one

spring flower to the other

without a loss of enthusiasm.

Success

is climbing to the top of the ladder

to pick cherry blossoms for your table.

Success

is learning who you are

in the grand web of life

and learning to rest there,

at peace with all your succession

in the dance of things.

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Where I am…

Where I thought I’d be…

Guilt?

Shame?

Have I made my ancestors proud?

{God or Myself?}

The quantification of success is difficult.

The Truth? I want more.

More:

==> spirituality

==> relationship

==> identity

==> belonging

==> experience

At what point is it enough?

{I have a great life.}

When did it feel so tough?

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author

yes! so good. And I really love the ending.

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Thank you ❤️

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Love this!!

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Thank you 😊

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We are so afraid of failure

That we fail to see

How every success

Is a failure at something else

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When the world is in chaos

When we feel we're falling further into the abyss

What is success - failing better as they say?

What does that even mean?

As the night brings

Restlessness

Doubt

Prayers of groaning

Success in that time is

Surviving the night

Seeing the pinkish orange sky at sunrise

Releasing the pain of the night

Welcoming the breath of

Another day

Grace on the horizon

A few moments of peace

A sense of hope

Success

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author

Love this. Thank you for writing!

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Beautiful. Thanks for the hope.

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Thank you so much.

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Success is juggling life's demands and keeping your inner peace-filled core;

Success is touching one person's life with kindness'

Success is crying when your heart is touched and when you are filled with awe at nature's beauty.

And in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: To laugh often and much: To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded.

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Beautiful!!!

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Success

Is not in a relationship

Is not in having children

Is not in a fancy car

Is not in a tax return income box

Is not in home ownership

Is not in a number on a scale

Success is

Being okay without having achieved any of these things

And still

Loving your life

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Love this!

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Success.

Elusive.

A goal post always moving.

Matrixes, standards

Always just beyond my reach.

But sometimes

it is standing

on a porch

as the sun sets,

the enchanting hour

making the hills dance.

New life budding.

The freshly mown lawn’s scent

tantalizing.

Sometimes

it is a student who

sends a meme,

an adult child

who shares a heart,

a moment of coffee

shared with your spouse.

There is no matrix.

Just a moment

of fleeting love

that says,

“This life matters.”

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author

the matrix idea--how beautiful and powerful!

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Just a moment of fleeting love that says, "This life matters." ❤️

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It really does matter!!!

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Success

There is a pea plant watching from her second window

with pods emerging out of miniscule flowers,

flat and green, waiting for the plump of beans.

I hear my daughter sometimes when I walk by

to say goodnight, almost interrupting her own goodnights,

affectionate congratulations to this dear plant,

her pride and joy in an orange pot.

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author

beautiful!

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Here is a go at it:

Success

Not what I think it is

Not what the world told me it was

Success

Authentic living

Playing with Leo

Being present

Eating with the family

Is loving God

Is loving Mother Earth

Is loving myself

Is taking care of each other

Is missing my mom and letting myself cry

There is failure and success together, and it’s good

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author

What a calming, tender poem. Thank you!

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Thank you!!

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SUCCESS

by inch

= 💰

= sex😳

= fame😎

by heart

= ✌

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Thank you so much for this challenge, Kaitlin! I am very much looking forward to it. Here is my poem.

Stripped away and watered down

What is success?

Not what you’ve been taught about it

but the essence of you?

What if success isn’t what we achieve

but what we release?

Can we release the word without releasing ourselves?

What is in us that is worthy of the success of loosening?

Everything.

Breathing is success. Existing is success. Love is success.

There are no success stories- simply human beings.

Breathing.

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author

yes! the releasing is success, too

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The Succession of Water

Start high on the mountain

With gentle rain and sometimes storm

Travel slowly as you grow

Held by earth and grass and trees

Who you feed as they feed you

Laugh from fear and the thrill of

Shallow water running fast

Spinning in whirlpools and

Dropping suddenly over rocks

Float slowly under the blue of sky

Slow deep waters cradling your back

Deep calling to deep

Sun warming your face by day

Moon guiding your soul by night

Be carried by this river

Past the shoreline

Where spirits dwell

Greet them as you join them

Here, where the rain begins.

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Hmmm.. last two lines (and the breaks between stanzas) don't seem to show up here.

Here is the last stanza...

Be carried by this river

Past the shoreline

Where spirits dwell

Greet them as you join them

Here, where the rain begins.

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author

This is so lovely, Mary. Thank you for this imagery!

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