What struck me this week in my numerous interactions is how often some people don't believe they are "_____ enough." Fill in the blank with any adjective such as "thin" "smart" "creative", or the one that hurts the most: "good". Many of my clients don't believe they are "good enough".
What does that belief about our self really mean? Whom are we measuring up to? What standard, or high expectation, do we measure our level of good-ness against? It pains me when I hear someone denigrate him or herself. Is it possible that HaShem looks upon us in sorrow when we believe that we are not "good enough"? After all, we are created in beauty. How quickly we forget how holy and "good enough" we truly are.
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Showing posts with label beliefs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beliefs. Show all posts
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Fitting In, Breaking Free
I was reading some commentaries on this week's Torah portion, Vayigash, about Jospeh's reunification with his brothers who had sold him into slavery, and his reuniting with his father and beloved brother Benjamin. I got to pondering the story on a more soul-ful level, as in how have I enslaved myself, what beliefs am I holding onto that are keeping me "jailed", and how do I rise above them into a more full and open place within myself?
Joseph becomes a very politically powerful man, but at what cost? His power comes from outside of himself, it is bestowed on him by an even more powerful man, the Pharoah. True, Joseph brought a unique ability with him, the ability to prophecy the future in dreams, which got him noticed by Pharoah. In many ways, we encounter this every day, especially in our work. Someone outside of ourselves recognizes a gift we possess and puts it to good use; that is, we may have a job/career where we can use our God-given talents and the skills we have learned, and become powerful agents of change in our work. But, how often do we "become" our work? Do we get caught up in the perks, and the flash, and veer off our original path? For many people, who they are is defined by what they do and this might be only a piece of who they are. We are always more than we believe we are, and always more capable than we believe we are.
We need to break free of what others think about us, how we fit in, if our beliefs truly fit whom we are allowing ourselves to become. We need to open up to what God thinks about us, and believes us to be, and find the compassion and greatness that is indeed stored within.
Joseph becomes a very politically powerful man, but at what cost? His power comes from outside of himself, it is bestowed on him by an even more powerful man, the Pharoah. True, Joseph brought a unique ability with him, the ability to prophecy the future in dreams, which got him noticed by Pharoah. In many ways, we encounter this every day, especially in our work. Someone outside of ourselves recognizes a gift we possess and puts it to good use; that is, we may have a job/career where we can use our God-given talents and the skills we have learned, and become powerful agents of change in our work. But, how often do we "become" our work? Do we get caught up in the perks, and the flash, and veer off our original path? For many people, who they are is defined by what they do and this might be only a piece of who they are. We are always more than we believe we are, and always more capable than we believe we are.
We need to break free of what others think about us, how we fit in, if our beliefs truly fit whom we are allowing ourselves to become. We need to open up to what God thinks about us, and believes us to be, and find the compassion and greatness that is indeed stored within.
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