Thinking About Your Value
By Jay Forte
You are not valuable because of what you do, contribute or invent. You are not valuable because of your age, ethnicity, income or position. You not valuable because of your political affiliation, faith or role in your workplace. You are valuable because you are. Period.
We live in a world of standards and comparisons. We have been led to believe that we move along the value meter based on the number of friends we have, the posts that get read, pictures that are liked, videos that get watched or people who vote for you.
But the truth is that you are valuable because you are here, and you are you. True, you have things to contribute – to discover, develop and live what is best in you to make your life and our world better – but that is not why you are valuable.
Deep in us – if we tune out the world and tune our attention inward – we have a divine spark that entitles and empowers us to show up fully, boldly and confidently as we are. Though there are those who insist that some are more valuable than others, the way we advance the success of our lives and our world is to see and support the value in each of us. Everyone matters.
A key place to see this in action is in our politics. How many of you have disassociated or refused to see the value in (said another way – find fault with) another because they vote differently than you? How many of you have stopped communicating with someone who has different values or beliefs than you?
This raises an important question: why would we think that finding our way in life (as a valuable member of society) would require us to all think and act the same way?
One of the things that makes our American experiment challenging is we are different by design. We are not like many countries where their citizens are similar – in look and beliefs. We, on purpose, welcome others who are different. It takes greater effort on our part to learn to see the value in each other when we are different, but it is the key to our collective survival. We must learn to work with each other, and that requires each of us to get past our differences and find our common thread, ultimately that we are each valuable.
So, remember: you are valuable. So am I. You and I are different on purpose, but the spark of value in each of us remains.
See this and your view of the world will change. As it changes, so will the world.
Important Questions from a Coach:
- How can you learn to see the value in who others are, not in their accomplishments?
- How can you learn to see your value and not live in a constant state of comparison, allowing it to dictate your value?
- Think of someone whose value you may not have seen yet. How can you focus on it to see it today?
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