In this journey of life, we human beings are a part of our divine creator- God. He is the one who has created the universe and we mortal souls are one of the highest forms of his divine creations. We are all unique in our own way and we all have our strength and weaknesses. As we tread along the path of life we lose our sense of uniqueness and mould ourselves according to the experiences we encounter.

Most of the times failures in life to achieve our goals and feeling unloved by the ones we love and feelings of dejection by our family or friends or by our colleagues at work, make us feel worthless and we often harbour the feelings like I ‘am Not Good Enough. This is because we see ourselves through eyes of the world around us and we give our inner critic the liberty to tear apart our own self-worth with the opinions and approval of others. We inadvertently begin to compare our worth and our degree of success and achievements with those whom we openly or secretly idealize and hold in high esteem be it amongst family, friends or colleagues.

This makes us feel more miserable about ourselves and we feel we are the only one on a lonely planet, which is not true, because -“If You Feel I’m Not Good Enough, You’re Not Alone”. All of us at some point in life often experience this undermine feeling of I’m Not Good Enough, especially when we are unable to achieve our goals in life or when we are betrayed or mistreated by our loved ones, either due to uncanny circumstances or due to our pre-destined fate, and also when we are unable to please and meet the expectations of our ideals.

Often the people we compare ourselves to also compare themselves to their ideals too. Rather than comparing ourselves with others we need to compare the progress of our own selves to where we were and how far we have come. Hence, instead of berating ourselves and condemning ourselves for our failures and stumbling with the feeling I’m Not Good Enough, we should acknowledge and appreciate our efforts of trying and the progress we have made in coming as far as we have.

Would like to share a story here, which have recently received on Whatsapp from a dear friend. It gives an insight to value and respect yourself no matter however you are and wherever you are in life. This story enlightened my own soul and lifted up my spirit and became a healing medium for my aching heart.

This story is about a man, a disciple who goes to his teacher Guru Nanak, an enlightened and a pious saint and the leader of the Sikh community, and questions him, “What is self-worth??” The teacher gave him one stone and said, “Go and find out the value of this stone, but do not sell it.” The man first took the stone to an Orange seller and asked him what the cost of the stone would be. The Orange Seller saw the shiny stone and replied, “You can take 12 Oranges and give me the stone.” The man apologized and said that his teacher had told him not to sell the stone.

He went ahead and found a Vegetable Seller and asked him, “What could be the value of this stone??” The seller saw the shiny stone and said, “Take one sack of potatoes and give me the stone.” The man again apologized and said he can’t sell the stone. Further ahead, he went to a jewellery shop and asked the value of the stone. The Jeweller saw the stone under the lens and said, “I’ll give you Fifty Lakhs of Indian rupees for this stone. When the man shook his head, the Jeweller was desperate to buy the stone and said he would give him Two Crores of Indian Rupees. The man said he could not sell the stone.

Still further ahead, the man saw a shop of precious stone and entered the shop and asked the seller the value of the stone. When the precious stone seller saw the big Ruby, he lay down a red cloth and put the Ruby on it. The he walked in circles around the Ruby and bent down and touched his head in front of the Ruby and asked the man, “Where did you get this priceless Ruby from??” The seller told the man that, “Even if I sell the whole world, and my life, I will not be able to purchase this priceless stone.

Hearing these words the man was stunned and confused because he was unaware that his teacher had given him a precious stone. He returned back to his teacher and shared his experiences and he again asked the teacher, “What is self-worth??” The teacher said, “the answers you got from The Orange Seller, The Vegetable Seller, The Jeweller and The Precious Stone Seller explain the meaning of self-worth. You may be a precious stone, even priceless, but people will value you based on your financial status, their belief in you, their selfish motives, their ambitions, and their risk taking ability. But don’t fear son, you will surely find someone who will discern your true worth.”

The message this story conveys is that you should always respect and value yourself the way you are and wherever you are in life because you are unique and no one can ever replace you, and the person who truly values you will always treasure and cherish the priceless- ‘You in You’. This means that if you learn to see yourself and appreciate yourself through the eyes of your divine creator, the feeling ‘I’m Not Good Enough’ will gradually diminish and instead you will begin to acknowledge yourself as a miracle and value your true worth and will walk your path gracefully through the journey of life with the feeling I’m Good Enough with one’s who truly value you for who you are.