Worth ( What is it good for? )
I don't know about you but I have had a ton of this thing called life thrown at me since the virus started. But that's all good because the gurus always say when life gets tough, make a glass of whiskey, right?
Wrong. When life gets tough, it's time for us to reflect and meditate on all that is and all that was. During this wave of challenges, I fell back to the wisdom of Lao Tzu. I found peace within his 44th chapter of the Tao Te Ching:
" Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. "
The Tao texts are from the 6th century BC. Yet, they hold as much truth today as they did all those long years ago. So when I found myself reading the 44th chapter, I knew I had some serious reflecting to do.
While immersing myself in Lao Tzu's words, I found an underlining question that is tucked away within the passage. A question that really needs to be asked during these times. This especially applies to those who lost jobs. The question that hit me was - what is worth?
One of the definitions of worth is: the value equivalent to that of someone or something under consideration; the level at which someone or something deserves to be valued or rated.
This made me realize that others have placed value or worth on our actual existence. This was a huge eye-opener for me. Family, friends, and the workplace have showed us this raw truth without even knowing they did it.
These little false stabs chip away at our core. It hurts. It's a really cheap hit. But let us remember what Lao Tzu said in chapter 44 of the Tao - "when you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. "
That doesn't mean be a deadbeat hippie. It means, to me, that you are the deciding factor on what your worth is. If you hold true your worth will be enough. Don't go chasing waterfalls. Don't betray who and what you are because somebody, who doesn't truly know you, weighed out and discussed how much worth you have. That's just twisted.
So write down what worth means to you. Ask yourself if the equation equals contentness and not value. Remember, you are not a mechanism that may or may not be needed at the time because the engineer placed its version of worth upon you. Instead, you are simply already worthy of value because you hold value to your inner worth and not somebody else's.
What I am trying to say is that worth is worthless if you have a price tag. And I don't mean money. A price tag means you have let someone else define what you are worth. Cut the tag. Be content because you are already worth it all.