Of your self-worth

Author Paulo Coelho in his book,  Like The Flowing River,   shares this story:  “Cassan Said tells the story of a lecturer who began a seminar by holding up a twenty- dollar bill and asked, ‘Who would like this twenty-dollar bill?’  Several hands went up, but the lecturer said,  ‘Before I give it to you, I have to do something.’  He screwed it up into a ball and said, ‘Who still wants this bill?’ The hands went up again. He threw the crumpled bill at the wall, dropped it on the floor, insulted it, tramped on it, and once more showed them the bill – now all creased and dirty. He repeated the question, and the hands stayed up. ‘Never forget this scene,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t matter what I do to this money. It is still a twenty-dollar bill. So often in our lives, we are crumpled, tramped, ill-treated, insulted, and yet, despite all that  we are still worth the same.’

If you look at closely at the inner core of the story,  the message is very clear. No matter what abuse we had been experiencing, either  verbally, physically, emotionally or mentally,   we have to bear in mind that no one can rob us of our self-worth unless we allow them. We have to remember that there are people who are cruel and tactless because they too have been treated with disrespect. In fact  Author Don Miguel Ruiz in his book, The Four Agreements, comments, “If someone  gives you an opinion and says, ‘Hey, you look fat,’  don’t take it personally, because the truth is that this person is dealing with his or her own feeling, beliefs, and opinions. That person tried to send poison to you and if you take it personally, then you take that poison and it becomes yours. Taking things personally makes you easy prey for these predators, the black magicians. They can hook you easily with one little opinion and feed you whatever poison they want and because you take it personally, you eat it up. You eat all their emotional garbage, and now it becomes your garbage.  So don’t let anyone rob  you of your self-worth. You are a child of the universe and God don’t make junk.”

Writer Leo Babuta is on the notion that self-worth (believing that  you are worthy of respect from others)  and self-confidence (you believe in yourself) are intertwined.  If you are one of those have problems regarding this matter, he  offers some tips on  how to regain self-worth and self-confidence:

Take control of your self-confidence. If you are low in self-confidence and self-worth, I strongly believe that you can regain your self-worth and confidence because these two are not genetics in nature. Do concrete action to become worthy of respect like studying your lessons, read books, attend seminars to improve your skills and ask people who are successful in their fields of endeavor

Think positive. Replace your negative thoughts with positive one. Look at the sunny side of life. Instead of looking at life like an half-filled glass look at the full of hopes.

Be kind and generous. Being kind to others, generous with yourself and your time, and what you have is a tremendous way to improve your self-image.

Act positive. Act in a positive way. Take action instead of telling yourself that you can’t do it.

Believe in yourself that you can do whatever goal you want to achieve in life. If others can, why can’t you?

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