The Achievement of a Lifetime | Our Brief Sojourn on Earth

What is the crowning achievement that comes to define our life’s sojourn on planet earth? And it is a brief sojourn–our time here. From the astrological perspective, life is but a school where we are born to learn certain lessons. We can see this from the Rahu and Ketu placements in an individual’s natal chart. But how do we, as humans, know whether or not we’re doing well with our existence on the material plane? How do we know when we’ve ‘done well’ or when we’ve finally ‘made it’?

Are we here to raise and rear our families and communities? Are we here to attain academic achievements? Are we here to become more spiritually attuned? Are we here to learn to be good spouses and partners? And lastly, are we here to become rich and wealthy?

For each soul, the answer is different. When we criticise people for falling short in certain areas of their lives; from an astrological perspective, it is all too telling that that was never meant to be the purpose of one’s sojourn on earth.

From a more rational and analytical perspective, however, it is too easy to poke holes and see why people are falling short in certain areas of their lives. When we have certain KPIs and certain objective goals that we must reach–either as individuals, as partners or as a team–our individuality starts to mesh into groupthink. Whether this group is an organisation, a family, or a nation, the answer differs based on the context with which one understands and perceives the world.

Say, for instance, someone did really well as an entrepreneur, but terribly as a father. When I gaze at that person’s natal chart, I can often see that that would have been the case. If life is a school, we cannot excel at every subject. We usually specialise in something and hope we get really good at it with effort, time and experience.

Our achievements are defined by our focus. We need to focus on the right goals and stay on the path that will get us there. The dictionary definition for achievement is: a thing done successfully with effort, skill, or courage. We need all three to achieve something–be it intangible or tangible. To master a skill requires us to put in the effort. If it’s something we haven’t done before, we will probably encounter our fair share of failure and struggle along the way before we start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Think about it. What is a goal that is really important to you? What is the effort that you need to start putting in? What are the skills you need to master before you can get there? And lastly, do you have the courage to begin, to fail and to keep going?

If you have failed at something that really mattered to you, that is not the reason to give up and run away. If you want to achieve something of value, you must have the courage to take the first step. But that is only the beginning. You must also have the staying power to see it through till the very end.