Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live

by Martha N. Beck

Once you’re on course, you’ll discover that change, in the form of growth and forward progress, is an intrinsic and unalterable component of a fulfilling existence. As any good Buddhist will tell you, the only way to find permanent joy is by embracing the fact that nothing is permanent.

Change

inner harmony.

Harmony

Your essential self was the part of you that cracked your first baby smile; your social self noticed how much Mommy loved that smile, and later reproduced it at exactly the right moment to convince her to lend you the down payment on a condo. You still have both responses. Sometimes you smile involuntarily, out of amusement or silliness or joy, but many of your smiles are based purely on social convention.

SMile

in today’s economic climate, your essential self is a much more reliable moneymaker than your social self. I began to suspect this when I was a

Essence begrets social expectations

The best way to make your fortune in today’s economic climate is to master the spontaneous, creative “not-doing” of the essential self.

amen

“everybody lives by selling something,” and