So much of today’s mindfulness and yoga teachings teach about simply being and not striving. “Just be” is the proclamation. And striving is often looked at as a negative thing.
When you just be you remain where you are. And essentially don’t make progress.
Striving is good. Striving is needed on the path of growth. Striving is necessary.
Striving has always been an essential part of the core teachings of yoga that originated in ancient Hindu scripture. But somehow a lot of today’s commercialized version of yoga prefers the “just be, don’t strive” version of life.
I am blessed to know so many highly successful individuals. Now before you get in a huff about the word successful let me define successful for you in the context that I am using it.
I define successful as living a life that is in alignment with one’s purpose and achieving one's goals in life. These individuals I know range from monks to entrepreneurs to high-performance athletes and more. Amongst the things they have in common is that they all strive. They strive to get to where they want to be and then they strive to remain there and keep striving to go beyond. None of them took the attitude of “just be''.
Just be is a lazy approach to life. Don’t just be.
Gain the clarity of knowing what you want in life. Then strive for it. Develop the focus you need to stay on the path to your goal.
My guru trained me how to strive for what I want in life. And I’m so glad he did. I would not be where I am today had I not strived nor will I get to where I want to go if I do not continue to strive.
