Constant Renewal for Higher Achievement

Years ago during an interview with my Guru Sri Chinmoy that I videotaped at my home in Westhampton, NY, he was asked a question relating to his lifelong spiritual achievements -- which include nearly over 17,000 songs, over 50,000 poems, over 700 concerts: "Do you ever get tired and need rest?"

His response was something I'll never forget. He said, "Rest is change of work." Simply by changing one's activity we can feel a sense of inner and outer renewal and become re-energized.

Sri Chinmoy was sleepless in his devotion to inspiring people towards self-knowledge, and he left behind a legacy of countless works of art, music, poetry, philosophical talks, and even weight-lifting achievements to remind us of our spiritual capacity for self-transcendence. He was driven by a need to inspire those around him, and as witness to his life, I can tell you that none around him could keep up with his constant, enthusiastic and tireless pursuit of achievement.

I'm often asked how I'm able to achieve so much in my life. My answer is Sri Chinmoy. For more than 30 years I've been a student and continue to aspire to live and manifest the lessons of his divine life. This include daily meditation to feed my spirit within and creative expression through my work and personal life so I can manifest and share what I'm feeling inside.

Energize: Sri Chinmoy's life was a living lesson that we can energize ourselves not by sleeping but by changing our activity and staying active. I'm typically active 18 hours a day, serving my business life, playing and writing music, reading, learning, blogging, and nourishing myself with nature and exercise. For me each day flows moment to moment in an improvised, flowing stream of consciousness, like a meditation.

Renewal: We tend to become bored in our lives and activities over time. So many people focus on the glass half empty rather than taking an optimistic approach. We often see what's missing rather than appreciating and being grateful for what's there. My approach to life infuses freshness, excitement and newness into activity itself. That is particularly important for my business and even more important to my creative explorations. Newness and enthusiasm are renewable through meditation and personal reflection, reading spiritual writings, connecting with nature, exercise and being creative. It's kind of like using electricity to charge a battery. All those activities are the electricity for renewing your spirit.

Open the Creative Flow: I've shared with many people the practice of opening one's creative flow by writing three pages a day of a personal diary. Writing three pages a day of anything that comes to mind is a great way to find inspiration and experience a feeling of newness.

Higher achivement. And if we approach life with a view to achieving more and transcending constantly in each moment, our horizons grow and anything is possible. Why bother to engage in an activity without an effort to become more, achieve more and go beyond one's previous achievement?

Focus. People often fail because they believe more in failure than success. They see and feel doubt rather than certainty of success. There is something to be said for focusing on the task at hand with a view toward unlimited possibility. Focusing and believing will pave a pathway to success. Doubt is an illusion. Use your focus derived from meditation to smash doubt and stay in tune with the inevitability of progress and achievement.

Those who know me well know that I encourage everyone to simply, "Go for it!" Race towards your goal..any goal. And if you lack a goal, find one. Then get moving, run forward, and believe. I'm sad for friends stuck in the sand, even late in life, who fail to even pursue something everyone can pursue: inner, self-discovery.

Sri Chinmoy's philosophy of self-transcendence continues to inspire:

"Self-transcendence gives us joy in boundless measure. When we transcend ourselves, we do not compete with others. We do not compete with the rest of the world, but at every moment we compete with ourselves. We compete only with our previous achievements. And each time we surpass our previous achievements, we get joy." -- Sri Chinmoy