February 4
   
   

What makes you worthwhile
is who you are, not
what you do.

Marianne Williamson

  

Today's Meditation:

Where do we get the idea that what we do is more important than who we are?  Could it come from the fact that we live in a culture in which people idolize other people just because they're on TV or in movies, football players or baseball players, famous or well-known?  Could it be because people in our society tend to value those jobs that pay really well over the jobs that don't?

One of the most important things that I've learned to do over the years has been quite simple but not al that easy to do:  to value myself based on how I treat other people and what I do to help other people rather than on what job I do or how much I'm paid.  Let's face it--few of us are paid what we're really worth, and the very wealthy among us often are paid much, much more than they're really worth.  In other words, money is rarely an accurate indicator of just how "worthwhile" we actually are.

What we do is usually referred to in terms of our jobs or professions.  Sometimes we talk about mistakes we've made or problems we've had as "what we do."  But we can refer to who we are as loving, caring, compassionate, forgiving, hopeful, positive, giving, and so many other things.  If we're in a down time, we may be pessimistic or negative or demanding or unsympathetic, but we always have the choice to change those terms, even if we don't change what we do at all.

We can do almost any job in the world and still maintain our inner peace and still get a great deal of satisfaction from it, for the peace and satisfaction are more a result of our attitudes than they are of the jobs themselves.  You are worthwhile.  I am worthwhile.  All we have to do is believe this truth for our lives to become more fulfilling and enjoyable.  And as we come to believe it more and more, our actions will become more and more reflective of the true worth that abides in us all.  Let's allow that worth to rise to the surface rather than keeping it deep inside of ourselves.

Questions to consider:

How do you define "worthwhile"?  Does your definition affect just how worthwhile you see yourself as being? 

How many people do you know who are more interested in what people do than in what they are?  Why might they see life this way?

Who are you?  What kind words would you use to describe yourself?

For further thought:

You can sing only what you are.  You can paint only what you are.  You must be what your experiences, your environment, and your heredity have made you.  For better or for worse, you must cultivate your own little garden.  For better or for worse, you must play your own little instrument in the orchestra of life.

Dale Carnegie

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