How many of you talk to yourself? Now don’t feel bad about saying “yes” because we all do it. What’s really weird is when people talk to inanimate objects they have no control over.
“Come on baby! Hit the headpin. Hook! HOOK! Gutter?!?”
The real question is what do you say to yourself? Or rather, what is the nature and tone of your comments? Most studies show that about 95% of the things we say to ourselves is…negative. Ever say these things to yourself?
“You idiot! You can’t do anything right!”
“You are such a failure! You’ll never amount to anything!”
We do this so much that it becomes all too common. We are our own worst critics. Especially for perfectionists like myself. Even when we do something pretty incredible, we tend to see all of the flaws rather than the good stuff.
The big problem is that as we tear ourselves down this way, we tend to make failure a self-fulling prophecy. Eventually, we can stop trying, give up too quickly, or even leave tasks unfinished. I mean, since it won’t be perfect, why finish it? A work continually in progress can’t be considered a failure. It isn’t done yet.
What’s the issue here? We have failed to see that we truly have value. Let’s take a look at a few things. Your eyesight. How much would you sell your eyesight for? A million dollars? Five Million? How about your hearing? Ability to taste and smell? How about the use of your arms or legs? Twenty or thirty Million dollars? I would venture to guess you are all saying you wouldn’t sell these for any price.
Do you see how much even you believe you are worth? And I only mentioned a few senses and physical abilities. But what about our true value? How is value for anything determined?
Prices are set in a free market based on “what the market will bear.” In other words, something is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. We see this pretty clearly on auction sites like eBay. People may bid the price up way higher, or sometimes even the minimum price isn’t achieved. Again, something is worth what someone else is willing to pay.
What are you worth? For the Christian, the answer comes from 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 that in part says, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” That price was the blood of Jesus. What is that worth? How about infinity?
You are worth what someone else was willing to pay, and that someone was our Heavenly Father who bought you with the blood of His Son. If you are priceless in God’s eyes, then you need to be even more careful how you talk to yourself. Or as the Book of Acts says in 11:9, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
How is your self-image? If you could use a booster, drop me an email at steven@co-inspire.biz. I’d be happy to set up a no obligation phone call to see if my services fit your needs.