24 Jan What is YourSelf Worth
Self-worth has a massive influence in our personal, professional or spiritual lives.
It is defined as, “a sense of one’s own value as a human being.”
The absence of self-worth may bring us various pitfalls, such as, superficial ways of living and thinking, lack of joy, low self esteem, inflated ego, or being highly critical of ourselves and others.
Mandriota from PsychCentral explains how close relationships with family, friends or partners can negatively mold our thinking about ourselves, thus making it critical to seek answers for the cause of loss of self-esteem, being kind to ourselves and continue taking additional steps to heal the parts of us that were afflicted.
Educating ourselves, our children, students, friends, colleagues or families about the empowering nature of a healthy self-image may be time well spent in discovering greater fulfillment in various parts of our lives.
I’ve experienced it firsthand, myself and others included, which I will explain later in more detail.
First, let’s look at how one may build or incorporate a greater sense of self-worth into one’s life.
One may think of it as a discipline, or a skill we acquired through education, hard work or effort.
We need to invest time and energy into ourselves-that is the first step.
This process also acknowledges we are worthy of taking time for ourselves.
Some of us already do this unconsciously.
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A musician who practices many hours every week, without pay, sharing their music with others is actually, without realizing it, giving a huge energy boost to themselves.
What a great habit to have.
Unfortunately, we’re not all so lucky.
There are bills to pay, tough jobs to do, people to take care of and little time left at the end of the day.
Sometimes we say we are busy-we say we have no time-we say it’s too hard-we say we have children.
We often avoid the things we need the most.
- Time alone
- Time to explore
- Time to play
- Time to reflect
- Time to breathe
- Time for nature
- Time for friends
Note how most of these examples are independent activities.
Many of us are so busy with others, we have no space to breathe.
We need to step out from our day-to-day lives.
Last year, I planned to explore, hike, rest and enjoy one day of freedom.
Every time I tried to do it, my crazy lifestyle would take over, thus all my time was gone.
This happened a dozen times-until recently.
I really wanted to see if I could make the time for a short walk in the park before work-something I attempted to do for years, but failed.
To ensure the plan was watertight, I slept early, prepared everything for work and went to bed, setting the alarm early.
Guess what happened?
I couldn’t sleep well, my fifteen-minute meeting took over one hour and another urgent call came, taking all my time.
It was as if my nature walk was not meant to happen, again.
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Fortunately, the next day was bright and sunny.
Upon waking up, I thought, “I’ll just stop by the park for a few minutes on the way to work-it’s better than nothing”.
When I arrived at the park, it was quiet.
One couple passed me and smiled.
A blue heron sitting on the trail, suddenly spread its massive wings and flew off, just a few feet away.
I stood by a bridge, over a gentle ravine, closed my eyes, and listened to the peaceful current, as my stress and painful thoughts rushed over me.
This simple hike felt like heaven on earth.
It also turned out, I did not have to work right away, so there was another thirty-minutes to hike around the whole park.
It turned out to be an awesome day.
Staying determined to do this little thing uplifted me incredibly.
The outdoor experience taught the value of self-worth.
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If you’re interested to experience real determination from the international performing arts community, check out this short video from some good friends at Shen Yun Creations.
Shen Yun Creations: Perseverance, a sequel to Time
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Another instance of positivity and self-worth can be seen through the constant journaling and self-reflection of practitioners from Falun Dafa, a meditation that advocates self-reflection as a core tenet.
Learning more about these amazing practitioners has taught me, that through intensive reflection, journaling, sharing insights and letting go of various negative attachments, we can elevate ourselves and become wiser, day by day.
Socratic thought is also wise and influential, reminding us that we can always aspire to be more than we are now.
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
Before we dismiss the idea of taking time for ourselves, think about it, maybe it’s worth it?
Just like depositing your wealth into a bank, if you make an investment of time and care into yourself, you will find your world prosper in ways you have never known.
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Sources
- Merriam-Webster (2022), self-worth [Online] Available: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-worth [Accessed January 24 2022]
- Medically reviewed by Vara Saripalli, Psy.D., written by Morgan Mandriota, PsychCentral (August 2 2021), 8 Examples of Low Self-Esteem and What to Do [Online] Available: https://psychcentral.com/health/common-patterns-of-low-self-esteem [Accessed January 24 2022]
- goodreads, [Online] Available: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/knowledge [Accessed January 24 2022]