The Star Walk in Hollywood – reflections on what is real success?

One afternoon I was taking a walk in Hollywood on the Star Walk – “Walk of Fame”. I was impressed by the successes behind the names engraved in the sidewalk. At the same time along the walk, many struggling artists was trying to catch our attention with their various gifts – whether they were singers, actors, dancers etc. It was quite a touching experience that for some there was still a long way to the stars and for others they might only be one more song or performance away from the big breakthrough having their dream come true… Yet, how often is it true happiness we get when we get what we want? Is success really the way we define it? Do we always follow our hearts and act in alignment with our values and ethics when achieving what we hoped for?

The same day at the Walk of Stars, there was a memorial for Robin Williams. Robin, who ended his life with a suicide due to mental illness and depression. His name was there amongst all the other prominent personalities from Hollywood lucky enough to have their success engraved in the pavement. So many people were standing around the ceremony – some curious, others trying to push their ways through to get on to camera hoping to be spotted to some day become as known as Robin Williams. But was he happy, was fame his ultimate success? We can only second guess what truly made him happy when alive.

Many on that stretch at least, believe that once they have money and fame life is good. I remember myself in the beginning of my 20’s that my goal in life was to succeed in business and have a good career was happiness – until I realized the immense human suffering in organizations and that I wanted to make a difference – support companies and individuals finding new ways to succeed and be everything that they can become whilst contributing to the world we live in (Hence, Energistic Leadership & Impact Performance™ that I developed and offered to market back in 2007). When they only strive to achieve short term success for their company or so that they can keep their jobs and some, so that they can climb the latter and become managers and head of their organizations with no consideration of the world around them I believe that we are not fully standing in our full capacity – we are so much more and meant to do so much more. There is a purpose to life and the more freedom and opportunities we have – the bigger the responsibility.

Are we aware when building strategies that we need to contribute to a sustainable growth for all parties in our stakeholder chain, when we build performance that we need to build of both spiritual, mental and physical endurance and stamina to ensure not only positive results for our bottom line but also happiness and wellbeing for everyone involved, are we aware that every single thought, choice, action and interaction with other people have an impact – that it is our conscious choice to make a positive difference from when waking up in the morning and either smile or rush at our family members creating two very different scenarios and lives for ourselves and our children?

Do we make a conscious choice on what is our own Star Walk could look like? If each star along your personal star walk would be something you did to make a difference to the world around you, something that made you happy, something that made other people happy what would be in your stars?

Contributing has many colors – the smallest kindness can have the strongest impact on all levels in life. The Star Walk in Hollywood also reminded of meeting Pierce Brosnan once and of how intuition, curiosity and expressing admiration for the work of others can make a much greater difference in their lives and can take you unexpected places. When I was only a young woman (which I of course still am just a decade or more older) in college studying in London on an exchange program, I was taking a walk and saw a man in the street making an impressive peace of art. I felt an urge to compliment him and ask him about his work. Before I knew at it I was standing talking to Pierce Brosnan and being a taxi passenger in a James Bond movie – The World is Not Enough. It was incredible days. The painter was truly happy to be acknowledged for his work as he was always backstage and the actors always got all the attention – so he wanted to give something back.

It turned out the man painting in the street was making settings for the movie and was so happy about my interest that he introduced me to his friend, Pierce Bronsnan’s stunt double and he then invited me to the set. When he was working, I had a chance to spend some time talking to Brosnan. It was very interesting and I still remember till this day his humbleness and kindness to me making me feel that I was important. In the above example, it shows how many things can happen from reaching out, paying attention – simple act of kindness – it didnt take any effort from my side, I never expected anything in return. The compliment came from the bottom of my heart and I had no idea what it was. Kindness creates a ripple effect and everything can change in a split second. I till this day do not know what ripple effect I caused little or a lot in the painter’s life. Making him happy, feeling acknowledged maybe gave him the courage to take his work further, he maybe had more energy for his family coming home. You never know. It is now important. Yet, seeing his willingness to make my day special tells me something about the impact the attention had on him.

Sometimes we don’t need to overcomplicate contribution and making a difference. Just be aware that little effort can make a bigger difference that we ever imagined. Following your intuition and talking to people when inspired can make a big difference in yours and other people’s lives.

Having felt energies since I was a young girl and meditated since I was 12 my intuition has always been sharp yet alone now one of my strongest tool to support people to take optimum advantage of their full capacity in life creating exceptional results and not only living parts of their potential. I believe that being the best you can be – includes having the biggest impact on the world we live in – why else were we born. Robin William that I mentioned in the beginning of this blog, did not only make a difference when alive always fighting for the weakest, offering reliefs in the hospitals and helping unemployed people, his story fighting depression now helps to make awareness in the in tire world on mental health. He was certainly a man with great impact before and after his death using his fame to create a beautiful ripple effect of abundance and awareness in our world. Read this lovely article on brianlord.org’s website: some ask for private jets others for homeless people to get a job!

I hope the above blog will inspire you to follow your inspiration, creating your own Star Walk, knowing what really matter and dare to define what success truly is for you – then having the courage to act on it and dare to care for yourself and for other make a difference through being who you are and what you were meant to be.

Best of energies

Christel Rosenkilde Christensen