Author: Mark Meincke

In the Hindu religion, there is a sharp focus on Dharma. Choosing your Dharma is choosing to walk the path set for you by the Supreme Being. If you follow your Dharma, you will no longer be a fish out of water, or a round peg trying to fit in a square hole. When you are doing what you are meant to do, you will then be utilizing your natural skill sets and talents; thus, success will be inevitable. Finding your Dharma is like falling in love. If you’re ready for it to happen, then when it happens, you will just know. And nobody will be able to talk you out of it. If you aren’t sure of what it is you should be doing, just make sure that you are in the ball park. Close is good enough for a start.

One way to find your Dharma is to write a list of what you don’t want in your life. Most people have an easier time identifying what they don’t want than what they do want. It will still take courage to cut these items out of your life, but at least you will have a list to use as a reference when you are deciding on one path over another. The closer you are to your Dharma, the easier and more enjoyable your life path will be.

The best example I can think of to illustrate Dharma is to talk about my dog, Abby. Abby is an English Springer Spaniel or “Springer” for short. Springers are born and bred to hunt and flush out game birds such as grouse and pheasants, which is the prime purpose for me choosing this breed. From her normal behavior, most people would assume that Abby is a happy dog when they meet her. She is a bundle of excitement when she greets every guest, and she is even more excited if she recognizes who you are. She’s an indoor dog who is well cared for, pampered, and loved as much as any dog could hope for. It’s true that our little Abby is generally a happy dog who is in good spirits. However, she wasn’t born and bred to be a family lap dog.

Abby suffers from arthritis, and at home she needs help to get up on to the couch or into her favorite chair. She climbs the stairs with some difficulty and discomfort, but she can do it on her own. In this environment where she is merely content, this is the demeanor of our precious friend. One would never suspect what she is capable of when she is placed in the environment she was born and bred to be in.

When the short two weeks of pheasant season comes around, I’m ready for it. The pheasant area is a two-hour drive south of my home. Consequently, for me to be there for first legal shooting light, I have to get up bright and early. The moment I grab my hunting jacket and my shotgun, Abby perks up and starts to look like a different dog. Suddenly she is able to fly up and down the stairs without any sign of pain, and she has a look of anticipation in her eyes that can only be described as sheer joy. On the drive down to the pheasant area, she calms down. But as soon as we get within ten minutes of our regular area, Abby starts to fuss with anticipation. Even though we only go about three times a season, she recognizes every tree and bush within a fifteen mile radius. By the time we start down the final dirt road, Abby is jumping out of her skin with excitement. The moment I park, I open the door for her, and she bolts out of the vehicle as if she were on fire.

Once I get all of my gear prepared and the clock tells me that it’s time for legal shooting light, we’re off to hunt. My little arthritic dog runs full out, weaving in and out of the bushes without any encouragement for three hours straight. Even in the deepest bush (which Springers are renowned for), Abby will crash through the thistles and leap over the logs and deadfall as if she were four years younger and much fitter than she actually is. When Abby does find a bird or rabbit, she lets out an uncontainable yelp of excitement as she chases after it for me. Each time she finds a bird, she is re-energized and unstoppable.

This is the power of Dharma. Hunting is what Abby was born and bred to do. It is the reason she was placed on this earth. Although she can be relatively happy without hunting, she will never be so happy as when she is hunting.

When you are traveling the path you were meant to travel, the one you were designed for, you will then be at your happiest as well. If I could hunt with Abby all year round, I would. It brings me enormous joy to watch the excitement she experiences during the hunt. Even when we aren’t successful at finding any game, she is still far happier pursuing her purpose than being at home on the couch. She doesn’t lament that she has failed in her attempt; instead, she relishes the fact that she had the opportunity to try.

“One’s real life is often the life that one does not lead.” Oscar Wilde
“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.” Abraham Maslow

It stands to reason that the components of both success and failure can be identified and therefore duplicated for our benefit. It also stands to reason that it isn’t your parents or the neighborhood you grew up in that determines your success in life.

When things go wrong or our lives fail to meet our expectations, it’s natural to try to find someone to blame. The last person we want to point fingers at is ourselves. I’ve found that laying blame does nothing more than validate excuses and allow the unfortunate to fall into the “victim rut.” If the keys to success and failure aren’t the influential people who helped mold us into adults, then what are they? What makes some people succeed in living a happy life and others condemned to a life devoid of accomplishments and validation?

The most successful people on earth all agree that the keys to getting what you want have nothing to do with the world around you. Instead, success has everything to do with the world within you. It is your internal circumstances, not your external ones that determine what shape your life will take. Once you have taken ownership of this fact, thus ownership of your own life, the whole world will look different to you. You will see opportunities where you once saw obstacles, and you will see the good in situations where you used to see only the bad. Ownership of your life is a critical key for you to accept and obtain.

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Believing you can achieve is different from believing that you are worthy of an achievement. It’s one thing to recognize your own talent and another to believe you deserve to benefit from your talents. Without the sense of self-worth that speaks to you saying “

All people have self-limiting beliefs. The challenge is to realize that these beliefs are self-imposed; therefore, they can be self-removed. With the understanding that we get in our own way and with the faith in our ability to remove our self-imposed obstacles, we will then have the required foundation upon which we can stack up new skills, abilities, and knowledge. We must come to the point

where we realize that, if others can achieve a particular goal, then“Why not me?”……for more of this, click on the book icon to purchase your own copy!