“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” – Buddha

Let’s start with a question: how much is your life worth?

You may remember that I said before  that you’re worth millions of dollars worth of potential energy. But, that is only one interpretation of your worth; humanforsale.com says I’m worth $2,843,072!

Another estimate says your organs alone are worth $45 million; and yet the component chemicals that make up your physical body are worth around $4.50.

So, what are you worth? $4.50? Millions? Priceless?
I know, everyone says priceless; but let’s see if that’s really true.

I can tell you exactly what you’re worth; there is an easy physical answer, and a more complex non-physical answer.

At its core, your boss is paying you to show up somewhere for roughly 40 hours a week and perform tasks…maybe too many tasks!
But, your boss has way more control than that; the person who signs your paycheck controls where you live, what kind of car you drive, whether you have kids, and where they go to school; whether or not you take a vacation, when you retire, and what you’re going to do once you’re done. The person who controls your paycheck controls your * life *. So, if you’re working for $35,000, you are agreeing your time, and by extension your life, is worth $35,000. The result is the same if you work for $350,000, $3,500,000, or $35 million. At some point you decided your own personal value; consider, you probably wouldn’t work for half of what you make right now, but would you be really comfortable working for double it?

The second part of the answer takes a bit more explaining.
Do your friends and family respect you? Do you carry yourself in such a way that not only warrants, but demands respect? Does your significant other love and listen to you, or do they dominate you and constantly put you down? This article was inspired by a friend of mine who continues to get put down by their “significant” other (who isn’t too significant). The “other” is emotionally abusive, and romantically inattentive, and unfaithful; and yet my friend keeps trying to convince themselves it’s OK!

A big anchor hanging around people’s necks is the idea that “I’m not good enough”. This is probably the single most destructive belief in the world, and it’s always rooted in something that happened to you in the past.

Let’s pretend you have a problem with relationships, and let people walk all over you. As you think back, its always been that way, all the way back to elementary school. Maybe you remember your Mother always taught you to be polite, and never make a fuss; so you learned early not to stand up for yourself, which has lead to a life time of getting dominated. Or maybe it’s the opposite, maybe you got beat up once and decided to become the bully instead, and are still living into that role decades later.

Now there are a couple of things I want to make clear:
First, how much you get paid and how you get treated are based on the same two things: the amount of value / benefit you add to other people, and what kind of treatment you will accept.

It is true that you aren’t your job and your bank account; but the fact is you’re selling your life a day at a time, so why not get the most you can for it doing something you love to do?

And the same with the people in your life; if you have to interact with them, why not have it be a blast? Wouldn’t you like to be the person everyone loves to see coming?

So how much are you really worth?
You’re a child of the same Mind that hung the heavens, planted the forests, and dug the oceans, and that Mind saw fit to give you your time in the sun; and in that, your worth is priceless.
But your VALUE, however, is measured in terms of your impact on your fellow Human Beings. If you want more peace, more love, and more money, you only have to do two things: decide what you will and won’t accept in this life, and stick to it. If you want a million dollar life, set out to get it and don’t stop until you do; you never feel so alive as you do in pursuit of something worthy of you.

The second thing is to find a way to make everyone else’s life better; be a ray of sunshine, a source of new ideas, a fountain of inspiration, a shoulder to cry on and a hand to uplift. To quote Ghandi: BE the change you want to see, and your contribution will make you priceless in every sense of the word.

* A note about stay at home moms and dads *
Your job is immensely tiring, and often unappreciated, but I know from experience it’s all worth it to see a smile on that little face. But if you feel like you deserve to get a pay check, too you can find one here.

What do you think ? Feel free to comment down below!

You are great, and I love you!

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B. Dave Walters

Writer, Life Coach, and Talk Radio Host

Find out more about me:
http://about.me/BDaveWalters

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Pages I support:
Jesus and Buddha — Interfaith dialog

Gnostic Theism — Religion and Spirituality for the 21st Century (Join the Movement!)

Love One Another — A group for the coolest Spiritual people on the Internet!