Recognizing our own self-worth

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We all have gifts to share, take a moment to discover yours

By Dr. Matthew Lapp, Columnist, The Times

CTColLogoMattLappI was recently invited to speak at a workshop on wholeness.  The topic I was assigned was the subject of self-worth.  As I began to prepare my thoughts and make notes, I realized the impact that our sense of self-worth has on our overall well-being and quality of life.  Not only does our individual opinion of ourself affect how we engage with other ourselves, but it also dramatically alters the way in which we speak to and engage with the world around us.

Here are a few of the things that most stand out to me regarding self-worth.

We all tend to be our own worst critics, but if we take the time to better understand and accept ourselves without judgement, we may be able to achieve more ease in life without constantly criticizing and belittling ourselves.  The key component to achieving this is self-awareness. 

There are various levels of awareness, such as physical body awareness, mental/emotional awareness, all the way up to the highest levels of spiritual awareness.  It’s my belief that the highest level of awareness is the experience of connectedness and community to all.

This also means that suffering stems from disconnection from ourselves, our community, and from something greater than ourselves.  So, by taking time to become more aware of the things that bring us joy and those that cause us pain, we may be more able to recognize and put into action those attributes that are most valuable to our respective communities.

In addition, since we’ve all lived through different life experiences, each person’s life is unique and different.  With that in mind, it also means that over the course of our lives we’ve accumulated a unique set of hardships and wounds.  The truth is that these wounds can be instructive, helpful even, if you know how to use them as fuel.

For example, how many inspirational stories have you heard where a person lost everything important to them only to rise out of the ashes and create or do something extraordinary?  How many times have we celebrated athletes who’ve made astounding comebacks after injury or sickness?  We all love an underdog and the reason is that we can all identify with their struggles.  Next time you’re in a situation where you are the underdog, try rooting for yourself!

Try this exercise.  

Imagine that you walk into a room and you immediately spot someone that you know.  You feel your heart start to race, you feel flushed, you get some butterflies in your stomach, maybe your hands get clammy…  Now answer this: was the person you saw a person you love?  How about a person you despise?  My guess is that it was about 50% of people saw a person they love and about 50% saw a person they can’t stand to be in the same room with.

What I described was a physiological response and you attached the meaning to it.  Regardless of whether it was a person you love or despise, the reaction was the same.  So, the real take away is that we have the power to chose how we assign meaning and how we use that meaning to create energy for action.  Whether that energy comes as a result of a wound or a gift is up to you.

We’re all equipped with a unique set of gifts and talents and I truly believe that the meaning of life is to the discover what those gifts are and that the purpose of life is to share these gifts with the world. The extraordinary thing about gifts, is that you get to choose how you share them, be it with helping the person next door or on a larger, global scale.   We all have something exceptional to offer, but often we may be too scared or think that we’re not good enough so we withhold our talents or hide them and wait for someone else to step up.

What extraordinary gift have you been hiding? What can you do today to share that gift?  Take a deep breath, be still, and really think about what excites you in life and go out in the world and share it.

Drs. Allison and Matthew Lapp are the owners of Salus Chiropractic Studio in Thorndale. For more tips on living a health, happy life, visit them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SalusChiropracticStudio

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