We all live in a world where the game of comparison is played out each day.
Whether that be within the realms of social media, the press, with friends or families, whatever our social surroundings, it is a heavy burden to carry. There is a fundamental issue within society today and that is how society itself tells us to measure one's value or self worth. The main problem is that we tend to focus on constantly measuring ourselves against others, rather than paying attention to our own worth.
We have sadly become obsessed in how others see us, as opposed to how we see ourselves.
Before we can receive respect and love from others, we need to love and respect ourselves.
This comes from knowing our purpose.
Our purpose is the reason and the objective of our life. Our purpose, simply is how we want to contribute our talent to the world and help make it a better place for each one of us.
On the whole, most of us undervalue ourselves, whether that be through not cultivating our strengths, or not accepting our weaknesses and therefore not allowing ourselves the time and patience to work through them in order to provide a platform for personal growth.
Sometimes when we feel worthless, this could be as a result of either learned behaviour, as we have a false image of who we are and our self-worth, or we think it's inappropriate to see ourselves as having any value.
Yet the exact opposite is true, it is an absolute necessity to value ourselves, and unless we grasp that, we will never be unable to bring into our life any valuable experiences, which are essential to living a fully liberated and peaceful life.
The raw truth is, that if we as individuals don't value ourselves, which is who we truly are at our essence, others won't value us.
Whether that be family, friends, employers, basically anyone we have any interaction with.
We are the only ones who can teach other people how to treat us, and that is why it is imperative how we treat ourselves.
There is a profound truth, that we often forget and that is that we are all extremely valuable, whether we like the people we meet or we don't, we still need to realise that each of us, offers in our own unique way, a value to the world.
It is far more productive to focus on our own life and finding our own purpose than living a life that seemingly pleases others.
Yet living like that brings nothing but misery and unhappiness, as we can never be like anyone else, and nor are we meant to be.
There are times when our self esteem is low and we feel as if we shouldn't value ourselves or it is somewhat arrogant, but this is where we need to realise that valuing ourself is a good thing, it is vital for our mind, body and spirit, it isn't arrogant or selfish in any way and it allows other people to see us and respect us fully for who we truly are.
Another important aspect of self worth is that we should never allow anyone to make us feel that we are not good enough.
We all have our difficulties and uphill struggles, but no one is better than us nor lower than us, we each have our own individual value and worth and reason for existing.
We never know what anyone is going through secretly, and therefore what seems as an ideal life on the surface, is probably far from the real truth.
We are able to gain true confidence and a personal power, in part, from knowing that our
worth is not dependent at all on how we are viewed by others.
It comes from understanding our real personality which contains many valuable strengths,yet at the same time welcoming our weaknesses with courage, in order for nothing to become a barrier to our growth.
The more we are able to know our true selves, the easier it will be to trust in our feelings and instincts and to do the right thing for our own self development in any given moment.
The game of comparison is a very unhealthy way of life as when we compare ourselves with who we are, as opposed to who others are and where we are in our journey, compared to where others are, we plant seeds of doubt whereby we become afraid to step out with faith and live our personal truth.
It is a well known wisdom that if someone disrespects us, it is their doing.
However, once that person disrespects us a second or third time, it is because we have allowed it to happen.
Whatever situation presents itself and whatever person appears on our path, we must ask ourselves;
Is this bringing me closer to my heart?
Is this bringing me peace?
Is this allowing me the freedom to be the real me?
Is there love in the equation?
If the answer is no, we must respect ourselves enough to walk away and travel towards everything that cherishes our being.
If we are to make any worthwhile efforts to improve this world, we must start to correct ourselves, and if we succeed in this plight by gaining a deeper spiritual insight, we will gradually open our eyes and heart to the illuminating wonder, that we must take care of the rest of the world, by sharing our precious presence in its entirety.
It is then that the road to the mystical life becomes open and calls us to travel further into ourselves, it liberates us and gives us a new state of freedom, away from a unreal way of defining and valuing ourselves.
It allows us to explore a greater mystery, that we are not merely irrelevant in the great scheme of things, but we are infinite beings, who are needed at this time, to bring about a global shift towards a higher good.
When we discover the true reality of us, in a way that we cannot ever doubt, and we realise that we are related to a wondrous and infinite reality, we gain a power within us that is able to transform our path and lead to self discovery.
We will then accept ourselves completely without the need to grasp at others opinions of us, we won't need to compete to make ourselves bigger and better than others, to try to acquire a value, as we will come to the realisation that we already indeed possess absolutely individual existence and we have an immeasurable value.
Once we are in harmony with ourselves, the world becomes the masterpiece of our life.
Published in NYK Daily - Original Article