What Have You Accomplished?
 

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday. During the course of our discussion she said she was disappointed because she didn't feel as if she had accomplished anything in this lifetime.

And I countered with a question. I asked, "What have you learned in this lifetime?" To which she replied emphatically, "A lot."

I explained that living your life isn't about what you do but what you have learned.

But still in the end, she still couldn't grasp the significance. She ended by saying, "Well hopefully I've been able to help someone along the way."

What are your thoughts?

It's possibly about both where learning is the basics that lead to putting the person that learning has helped mold, into action for others. I just started a thread related to this.
It's the ol. " but if I don't have love....I am a clashing cymbal" thingy.

I think your friend gets it quite well.

She is finding it difficult to put meaning to her life because she doesn't see the value in her lessons. I wonder if she hasn't reflected upon her lessons thoroughly enough, & I wonder if she's comparing her life to standards or expectations set upon her by someone else, consciously or not.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ..."

I have accomplished all I could ever dream of or wished for

was I lucky ? or did i only really go where I wanted to end up ?

think the last one , and no not difficult, it was easy

If you have a need to accomplish you may as well go out and do it as in go out and achieve something that isn't yet but becomes because of your doing even if in the end it's pointless then having done all that you can reside peacefully in the pointlessness.

Which may seem counter intuitive, in an objective sense, and it is but subjectively it's a whole other ball game and while the chances of being completely jaded by the experience are high even that in itself is a worthwhile encounter of self.

A friend of mine recently told me that he'd been homeless for eight years and that is a superb accomplishment and he is far enough along the path of development to see that and know it and also that now accomplished it's time to do things differently. To extract what he's learnt from his foray and apply a new level of understanding to himself and how he is in the world.

One thing I've started applying to myself is the idea of being successfully unsuccessful which in nutshell is still about accomplishing but not having to have the outside feed into it to make it real, well that's not so right as the outside and the inside are always going to embrace and feed off each other, so maybe it's more about not needing to be successful in normal acquisition based ways, that growth is inner and the acquiring is spiritual as opposed to requiring the outer fulfilment of stuff and accolades.

Another friend came round recently and I talked to him about how my brother suggested years ago I needed to be in a position of not paying rent as it would free me to create and so I eventually got into that position but low and behold having the need to pay rent taken away also ended up taking away the need to accomplish anything or, at the very least, gave me the opportunity to see what accomplishment is really for.

And our man above, who could a woman and excuse me if I haven't researched this point or have done but forgotten, mentions Love and therein lies the whole of accomplishment.... that all the unrequired stuff by being acquired and then let go can finally end up as just an expression of Love.

And it's a big just... maybe the whole reason for this world and all it's density.

I don't think life is to accomplish or learn, but to experience and explore.

yet its an accomplishment to know that, but also to know how to do it in a good way

so its only fun

Wow, some great input.

ScarlettHayden, I think we (as in all of us) may be here for different reasons, some to learn and some to experience and explore, some to help another person(s) and probably many more reasons.

For me, I am a busy bee, here to learn.

Good point, it can be versatile and unique depending upon the soul.