What is your worth?
WHAT IS YOUR WORTH?
Do I have the right information to tell you how much you are worth? If this question or similar ones arise in your mind then do read the entire article. My first focus has always been to impact people at the deepest level. Then the superficial levels take care of themselves. For e.g., if a person has a profound respect for other people’s feelings and knows its importance, then being kind and empathetic flow automatically.
In my life I have met many people who consider themselves inferior in many ways. Their self image is so shaky that it just requires a gentle push in the wrong direction and a host of undesirable reactions are triggered. Anger, violence, abuse, tears to name a few. You know as well as I do that these are all just reactions to shield themselves from hurt.
For quite some time now, I have been grappling with how to let people know how special they are no matter what the put downs from society have been. Something one day popped into my mind and when I conveyed this idea to a few people, it did have real beneficial and positive effects.
There was once a watchman (security guard) I met. As you know their duties are mind numbingly boring. The worst part of life is when you have nothing to look forward to. The very thought can drive one into despondency. All people who work in such dead end jobs suffer from this syndrome. I thought that if I could get across my point of view to such a person, then definitely I can do the same to people who are better placed in life. After exchanging pleasantries (he was taken aback a bit as it is not often in India that you find someone talking to a watchman on subjects like these. Not to mention their self esteem takes a beating everyday thanks to the way the so called higher ups treat them).
When he did convey to me how depressed and sad he was, I listened to all what he had to say and then asked him thus:
If I give you a lakh of rupees would you part with your eyes? He said obviously not. Then I kept raising the amount. Never did he relent. He then asked me why I was asking such dumb questions. I ignored it and then repeated the same question for his hands and legs. When he started getting irritated I calmed him down and told him You yourself have said that you are worth more than a ten million rupees. And this is considering only the physical visible parts of the body. Take the brain too into account and the figure becomes incalculable.
The fact that he was in a dead end job was a reality. But the fact that he was not worth much (by his own admission) was proved totally wrong. There was a perceptible beam that lit up his face. I told him ,here you are worth much more than a crore just trudging your way back and forth to office. It is the TRUTH that there were people far worse off than you who have risen to much greater heights. I did cite people who had grievous handicaps and overcame them to lead spectacular lives. And here he was with all the health in the world doing nothing but bemoaning his fate.
When I saw that I had touched something deep within him, I left him to his thoughts. All too often people who feel empty and listless do not love themselves. The point of this article is very clear. To lead a glorious life you MUST have a wonderful feeling about yourself. I am not talking about conceit and arrogance but about having a feeling that you are special and you have a life that is unique to you. When that is in place, you can go for what you want with courage and cheer. Else it becomes all too easy for one negative event or comment to push you back into a limited shell of your own making.
I really mean it when I say that we shall rise above worldly limitations and comparisons when we first love ourselves. After all how can you give the world something that you do not have?
