I had started discussing the topic of money in my last blog article. The idea is to understand money as a neutral entity in our lives. Money is neither good nor bad. It is the feelings associated with money, which are good or bad; positive or negative. However, money in reality is just neutral. Let us understand this better.
Most people do not like to discuss the topic of money as it makes them remember their deficiencies, and what they cannot do in their lives. For some, money means more confidence, esteem and power. Either way, the point is that somewhere down the line in modern evolution, money started getting associated to our self-worth. It is mainly because the people with more money tend to enjoy things that those with less money cannot. We need money for everything right from life nurturing food to life saving medicines. But ultimately, money is just an agent of purchase, nothing more and nothing else.
Still, whether we like it or not, somehow many of us feel only as worthy as our bank balance suggests. Funny thing though, as the bank balance keeps changing almost all the time. Does this mean that our self-worth also keeps varying? It is indeed an uncomfortable thing to admit. But if at all anyone sees themselves in this thought, I urge them to keep reading and start pondering over this thought.
I like my mentor, Bob Proctor's reflection over this. He says, "Most of us are born with infinite potential, some of us are just a little short of money".
We indeed are born with infinite potential. No one can ever tell us with even a remote shot at accuracy what we are, or are not capable of achieving. This is because all those who have been born with a functional mind have powers within them that they themselves do not recognize and realize. The society has no doubt given us many benefits, but it has also done many damages. The main one is that it continuously teaches us a lesson to conform.
Archibald MacLeish, the famous American writer, poet and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright writes in one of his plays, "The only thing about a man, that is a man, is his mind. Rest everything you find in a pig or a horse." This is a truth, which is known to just about everyone. Still, people instead of realizing their real worth, tend to associate them with a non-living entity - money. This is not to say that there are no other things that we associate our self-worth to. There are indeed many other things, for example, affection, relationships, physical appearance, how busy we can keep ourselves, etc. But presently, we shall focus on just money.
When our self-worth is tied to money, the latter becomes extremely important to us. What we often fail to see is that it is not money but our own self-worth that we wish to enhance.
Since, self-worth is intangible, we cannot see it. So, we focus on what is tangible. This is incidentally also true for other things mentioned above.
Have you ever noticed how money-making becomes an all time consuming pursuit for some people that they do not even devote any time to spend what they earn? This is because they feel worthy only if they are constantly making more and more money.
Such people do not realize that what really increases their self-worth is when they realize and start using their true potential. This is when they start doing what they are put on this planet to do, and their lives become purposeful. This is the only thing that can make us feel truly worthy. It is not money or any other things for that matter, although they are no doubt, extremely important.
Let us dissociate our self-worth from whatever entities it may be falsely tied with. Money makes a good starting point to begin the process. When we do this, only then we truly feel free to see ourselves in a new light. Stripped of all these entities, when we see our own worthiness we experience living a truly worthy life.
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