I recently heard a fable about a man who meets a guru on the road. The man asks the guru, “Which way is success?” The bearded sage doesn’t speak, but points to a place in the distance. The man, thrilled by the prospect of quick and easy success, rushes off. Suddenly, there comes a loud splat. Eventually, the man, now tattered and stunned, limps back, assuming he must have taken a wrong turn.

So he returns to the guru and repeats his question, “Which way is success?” The guru again points silently in the same direction. The man obediently walks off and this time, the splat sound is deafening. When the man crawls back, he is bloody, broken and irate. “I asked you which way to success,” he screams at the guru. “ I followed your direction and all I got was splatted! No more of this pointing! Talk!”

Only then does the guru speak, saying “Success is that way. Just a little past the splat!”

Too often, we go through life looking for the easy way to success, and when we reach the splat, the challenges of life, we return to the place where we started…looking for the easy way to success. We will all face challenges in our lives and our success is the result of making good choices and recovering quickly from the poor ones.

Are you hoping that someday you will find a guru along the road who will be able to point you on the way to success? Perhaps you understand that, at some point in your journey, you will run into the splat. Will you choose to return to the guru or will you choose to move just beyond the splat to the place where success lies?

I Care, Barb