Someone once told me "I know you'll be successful." But what is success?

I think the definition of success cannot be pinned down to one single thing. Aspects of life must intermingle and converge, resulting in a fusion of moments and a synthesis of ideas. Because one man's idea of a successful and fruitful life may not be the same as another man's hope for a brighter future. How one defines success is therefore integral to that person's experience of life in and around him. As we are creatures of habit, we can proceed through life with preconceived notions of what is and what should be, convinced that what has worked in the past must also work in the future. In that way we deny ourselves the virtue of malleability. We are often our own worst enemies.

The Chinese philosopher and military tactician Sun Tzu likened the successful soldier to water. "Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing." The brilliance of this idea is not in the likening of life to war, rather in revealing the simple truth that we are a product of our experiences and how we adapt determines our success, along with what path we take. Each hill and valley we encounter provides us with an opportunity to adapt and change, gives us the chance to use our talents within the realms of our potential to evolve our life in new and sometimes unexpected ways. God's plan may be unknown and unfathomable to us as mere mortals, and there is no way we can predict where the road will lead us. We can, however, embrace our role in the game that is life, and welcome the changes that take place. We must do this with a serene state of mind, because life's paths and turns require a clear-headed approach to navigate. In the process, our own individual success is defined and revealed as in an artist who