The Right Price-Tag!

There have been times when my heart and life have been thrown into a tail-spin of deep disappointment and despair... times when I have held too closely to the opinions of others, longed too deeply for the approval of someone I had esteemed too highly. In hind-sight, those were the times when I was most disconnected from my true-self.....prostituted (it seemed) to an approving nod, placing too high a price tag on some-one else's frame of reference, all the time unaware of my own worth.

It's a sad place to be. But when you get to the place where you do not seek or need external approval... when you approach life on your own terms, when you can look at people, ideas, transactions or opportunities and walk away from those things that do not square up with your own interpretation of the way things should be...then is when you know that you have swung wide the doors of your own authenticity, you are living according to the dictates of your own principles and philosophies, charting your own path....muffling the sounds of the inauthentic.

Getting to the place where I put the right price-tag on my life has been a matter of deliberate choice and effort. Over time I learnt the value of celebrating my accomplishments - no, not an 'in your face' kind of a celebration, but a conscious, sober recognition, taking stock of the things I had done right, the contributions I was making to corporate goals, the people I inspired, the goals (personal or team) I had achieved. This simple act of celebrating is a constant and easy reminder of the value you bring to the table, but importantly as well, it also becomes a source of personal happiness and contentment....immense joy, as you watch yourself release everything that had become a crutch in your experience.

But as fulfilling as that experience is, it gets better. Its one thing to put the right price tag on yourself. It's even more exhilarating watching that price, that value, increase over time. As we make conscious efforts to increase knowledge and skills, as we narrow our focus in order to increase our impact, as we grasp every opportunity to learn,  let go of our inhibitions, as we dare and dare greatly, we find that our value increases - our value to our families, our organizations, our value to the market place all increase. And that's great....awesome in fact. But you will find that your biggest increase is the value you would have gained from getting to the place where you are able to live authentically.....completely comfortable with the disapproval of others, dancing to the beat of your own drum, drowning out the noise of opinion, living by the dictates of your own conscience...loving your own authentic sparkle!