Friend,
Ever felt unworthy?
Many people do.
There's no substitute for self-worth.
Self-esteem is a different story. Many substitutes exist for esteem.
Interestingly, most people seem to confuse self esteem with self worth. Your esteem must be earned. Your worth is given.
All humans are worthy. You can't possibly do anything to become more worthy. Nor can you do anything to become LESS worthy.
If you're alive and breathing, you're 100% worthy. Everyone is.
We all come from the same source. We're all equally
worthy.
Worth is given. It can never be earned.
So why don't we feel worthy?
Two basic reasons.
1. Shame.
If your parents felt unworthy - even if they never outwardly displayed it - then they probably passed those feelings on to you.
Maybe through the vehicle of spankings, or abandonment, or some sort of emotional abuse. The vehicles for passing the shame of unworthiness are many and varied. And the vehicle often has tinted windows.
You thought they were raging about the spilled milk. But feelings of their own unworthiness were driving that vehicle of rage. You never saw past the rage. Or the abandonment, or whatever the vehicle was.
That's one way to end up feeling unworthy.
2. Not being responsible for your feelings.
If you honestly, fundamentally, and unshakingly believe emotions are bad and wrong and need to be avoided at all costs - that can also lead to feelings of unworthiness.
The more you believe emotions should be avoided or stuffed - the more hollow and empty you'll feel inside. The more hollow and empty you feel inside, the more
unworthy you'll feel.
It's a slippery slope that starts with judging how you feel, and ends with feeling nothing. The more unworthy you feel, the closer you're getting to feeling nothing.
And if you're feeling nothing, you're most likely depressed.
Unworthiness - along with similar feelings - becomes like a prison that slowly closes in on you.
You want to avoid feeling it - but you keep brushing up against the walls of the prison.
So what do you do?
Well, a door exists that leads out of your prison. You just have to use it. The door - the answer - is to feel those feelings you don't want to feel.
First you 'own' those feelings. Then you can let them go.
Then you can just walk right out of your prison.
It's that simple. It also can be extremely difficult. Because something is guarding your door of escape.
It's the fundamental belief that feeling those feelings is WORSE than being in prison.
You don't want to be in prison. But maybe you believe it's better to be in prison than to be responsible for YOUR OWN feelings.
For some people, just reading these words will be enough to change.
"Wow! That makes sense, Mark!
"I was so afraid of my feelings of unworthiness that I was avoiding them at all costs. Well, no more...
"I'm going to own them - feel them - in all their painful glory - and them I'll release them. So I can get out of this prison and start feeling the worth that's my
BIRTHRIGHT.
"And if the feelings of unworthiness come back tomorrow then I'll repeat the process until they STOP coming back.
"And I'll feel my worth - as totally and completely as I can. Always seeking to feel more..."
Or perhaps you're thinking -
"I'm ALREADY feeling unworthy - you idiot!!! And nothing's changing!"
If that's the case, let me back up and explain what 'own' means...
First - here's what owning your feelings *doesn't*
mean -
It *doesn't* mean I get to use those feelings as a club to beat someone up with. Including myself.
It *doesn't* mean - "I'm right" - and I have the right to feel unworthy.
Or - I get to avoid being responsible for my feelings.
Or- I get to blame. Or I get to underachieve. Or get to engage in any behavior I want because I'm entitled.
"Look how I've suffered."
Basically, I don't *have* to take out the garbage. I get to tell myself a story about what those feelings mean. I have no intention of releasing them. And every intention of proving you wrong, Mark!
No. Owning means - these are MY feelings. Maybe I 'used' them in the past. Maybe I've been telling myself a story up till now, but I'm willing to change. Starting
right now.
I see the freedom that comes with ownership.
"That shiny new car in the garage is MINE!"
When you say you're already feeling those feelings, and nothing's changing - then most likely what you've been experiencing is a little bit of true feeling - and a whole lot of 'made up story'.
It's like breathing life into a monster. It takes a spark of real emotion - but only a spark - to make that monster story come alive.
The story is a coping mechanism. It's an attempt to deal with feelings you don't want to feel.
Because any time you 'cleanly' feel a feeling - you consume it as fuel.
Emotions are like jet fuel. They're MEANT to be consumed.
It's unnatural to feel the exact same thing day after day. If you keep feeling the exact same thing that means you're not properly using your fuel.
Besides, everybody loves a good story!
You can take what I'm saying and liberate yourself - or you can use it to bolster your story. Make the walls of your prison just a little bit thicker...
If you want to end the feelings of unworthiness - then OWN THEM - admit to yourself *you* created the feelings and nobody else. They're yours.
First - think about what I'm saying.
Second - feel as intensely as you can without thinking.
Third - think about it again.
Fourth - feel it again.
Go back and forth between thinking and feeling. That's how you change.
Whether it's unworthiness or anything else - consciously separate your thinking from your feeling. So you can engage each cleanly.
Have you ever dug a hole when the ground is saturated with water? The hole quickly fills up with water.
You can bail the water out of the hole, but it fills right back up again. How quickly it fills up depends upon the soil type. Sandy soils fill quickly. Clay soils take longer. Regardless, it fills.
If you want to empty the water you must get down on your knees and scoop it out with a bucket or some sort of container.
You are the hole.
The water is your worth.
Left on it's own, the hole will fill with water. You must DO something to be emptied.
Even if you were shamed, you must now keep the shame alive. You must keep bailing out the water.
It's hard work, but it's the only way to keep the story alive.
Remember, you can use these words to make a better bucket - to bail out your worth more 'efficiently'....
To strengthen your little story.
Or you can use these words to 'step outside the box'. Get those feelings churning and moving. Process them. Consume them. Eat them for lunch. Use them to become
more.
You're already worthy, anyway.
May as well feel it.
all the best,
Mark
brought to you by
Mark Ivar Myhre
The Emotional Healing Wizard
fiercely slaying your emotional dragons!
http://www.getresponse.com/t/8462807/
http://www.reduce-fear.com
http://www.getresponse.com/t/8462808/
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Thank you ♥
ReplyDeleteRebuilding a life in Hinesville, GA also says thank you Mark. I have never heard it said like that before. As I am on this new journey of self study, I am learning a lot about taking responsiblity for my life. I just wish I had found your website a few months ago before sabotaging two ideal situations. After months of prayer work and meditations I finally had the prize right at my fingertips, but I let it slip through my hands, as my lack of self worth caused me to become fearful of success. I didn't know how to deal with it... that is until today.
ReplyDeleteMark,
ReplyDeleteI have been feeling "unworthy" for quite some time now and sort of denying it by doing as much work and as many favors as possible, but when I read what you explained, I realized that I was moving in exactly the opposite direction of the solution! Thank you for writing this, and for making it so succinct and useful. I really want to show this to people I know, because it's surprisingly insightful for its length! Thank you!