Does Your Environment Dictate the Course of Your Life and Are You Limited by...

[b]Does Your Environment Dictate the Course of Your Life and Are You Limited by Your Environment?[/b]

This is quite a subjective question. For the most part, pundits and lay persons alike will answer this question according to their personal experiences, which in themselves may be the result of the effect of the role their environment has played in their own lives.

From my own experiences, I have perceived existence to be one of interdependency. And thus, at this point in my life, I will say that (1) yes, your environment can dictate the course of your life, and (2) no, you are not limited by your environment.

Your environment includes a multitude of variables. It includes your living conditions (standard of living), the people with whom you interact as well as those with whom you do not interact, the mores of the home, neighborhood and/or country you grew up in, whether you spend the majority of your time reading or watching television can all have an effect on the unfolding of your life. Even the company, for whom you work, can influence your behavior and thought patterns.

Your environment can have a negative or positive affect on your life. The positive effect can result from negative experiences just as negative effects can result from positive experiences. For example, many people grow up in substandard living, even poverty stricken environments and excel to financial solvency; some even go as far to acquire both fortune and fame. Some people experience emotional abuse and abandonment and use those experiences as a catalyst to achieve excellence. Often, they become leaders in their fields of endeavor. Take for instance, Dave Pelzer (child abuse survivor and now best selling author) or Maya Angelou, who experienced her own childhood negatives and rose to fame as a world renowned poet. Still, there are some people who are born in “privilege”, who by all appearances have the world at their feet, capable of achieving whatever their hearts desire, yet for some reason turn to a life of crime or drugs. Maybe they’re paying back some karmic debt. Who knows? At any rate, life is full of examples where one’s environment plays a not so subtle role in the path one chooses to walk. Even Siddhartha (better known as Guatama Buddha or simply Buddha) is said to have walked away from a life of riches only to become a beggar on the streets. It is said that one day while outside of his palace, he saw death for the first time and became so frightened of it that it propelled him to shun his riches and to go in search of that which cannot die (the eternal soul); and thus, he became enlightened, the greatest success, according to those who have reached this peak, that one can achieve.

All too often, we hold on to our negative experiences- long after they have ended. Though in one respect, we find them to be generally unbeneficial, we find also that there is a type of comfort in being able to lay the responsibility for our lack of physical, spiritual, mental and emotional progress in the lap of another, even when we know better. And even as the examples in the above paragraph have shown to the contrary, it is this choosing to lay off responsibility on another that in-fact makes us appear to be limited by our environment.

Now, I am by no means saying that it cannot be difficult, in fact arduous to overcome traumatic experiences, especially those that run very deep. And, although we are spiritual beings having a physical experience (meaning that we are capable of detaching from our experiences, sort of like remote viewing), in the earth plane, our spiritual and physical sides are nevertheless intertwined; so that again, it can be very difficult to view an experience as simply that, an experience and not a lifetime contract.

Financial solvency is one way in which we measure our success. And because our goal is to be holistic in our approach to life, financial solvency is a worthy goal to strive for. But let us not forget the benefits and utter beauty that comes from being at peace; and the greatest peace comes from knowing, KNOWING that regardless of your current environment, you have the ability to transcend- anything!!!!! Don’t sell yourself short.