The problem is that most people seem to get stuck in this success phase, thinking it is the most important aspect of life. This is a little like a caterpillar thinking he can do no more with his life than spend it eating leaves all day.

In reality, the caterpillar has the ability to transform into a beautiful butterfly, just as you can transform far beyond success in the physical world. Not realizing this, many people choose material success only to feel unfulfilled when it finally arrives.

These perpetual caterpillars do not understand that there is one more stage, the most important stage that is the source of true and lasting happiness. This is the stage I call “completion of the soul.” Once you have accomplished success in the “real” world, however you choose to define that, YOU can achieve the butterfly stage by turning your mind toward a different kind of success in which you find full expression of your highest sense of self. This can begin anytime in life, but older adulthood is the ideal time, a time when many other longings have been fulfilled.