Talking of Value…
Every couple of weeks, it seems, Life brings me new opportunities to gain a little more wisdom. The past two weeks the idea of “value” has kept surfacing into my consciousness and I’ve had a few experiences that have prompted me to write on this subject.
What does it mean to value something? The Oxford dictionary has four separate definitions for value, the first one of which is “the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something”. I find this interesting because value, by this definition, is definitely a subjective perspective, and I guess it is. We assign value, or choose what we value. There is so much in this definition with words like “regard”, “deserve”, “importance”, “worth” and “usefulness”. To regard something is to see it, place one’s focus on it. This is entirely up to the individual. To deserve something is to judge something worthy of something, again something that can only be enacted within each individual’s thoughts. Importance is entirely dependent on individual circumstances, judgements and priorities. Worth is not only subjective, but relative; what may be worth something to me, may be utterly worthless to someone else. We can and do assign collective worth to some things (this is what an economy is essentially based on) and can be very influenced by others’ perceptions of worth. Finally, usefulness is subject to time, circumstance and need/want, all of which are perceived by each individual. From this, I have come to see value as a fluid, mutable concept - not as black and white as I’d previously considered.
In setting up a new course, the concept of value came to the forefront of my mind. What is our time and energy worth? How much monetary reward does our effort deserve? How can we create a course that others will find useful? We regard this as important work, but will others agree? A plethora of questions milling around. The amount of monetary value we eventually assign to this course is a reflection of the value we place on our time, effort, experience, energy and what we think will be of value to those who take it. Having settled on an amount, we are now subject to others’ perception of value. “ Value for money”, “bang for your buck” are bandied around all the time, but although these phrases sound authoritative and immutable, they completely rely on perception, subjectivity and opinion, which are entirely subjective and mutable! A comment on social media saying that the course is expensive for many home educating families could sway our perception of the value of our time and energy. However, this comment is a reflection of the individual’s perception of the value of the same. This perception is subject to their circumstances, the usefulness and worth of the course and community for them, and the priorities they have. Collectively assigning this perception to “many” others is what so many of us do, when we are unable to sit as sovereign individuals with, or take responsibility and ownership for our own perceptions, circumstances and opinions. We all do it! This isn’t criticism, it’s an observation. It may be worth becoming aware of this when we comment.
How often have you felt under-valued at work or in your family or circle of friends? This has been a “story” I have been carrying around for decades. I have recently been able to let go of this pattern when working with William Whitecloud’s book, “Secrets of Natural Success”. I realised that my unconscious beliefs were influencing my perception of self-worth and this in turn was influencing the feelings of being under-valued. My belief of, “I’m not enough” made me susceptible to the perceptions of others. Since this belief has come to light, when I notice this feeling, I acknowledge it and then choose something different - focusing on the feelings of being valued and appreciated when I have experienced them. This has transformed my experience entirely. This has brought me to the knowledge that value is mutable and susceptible to change. Our concept of value is influenced by others all the time. This is what marketing is - convincing others to place value where you want them to. This may sound clandestine and manipulative, and often is, however, when we become aware of who we are and what we need/want, we are able to make responsible choices as to where we place our value, and therefore are not as easily influenced.
Lastly, I’d like to discuss how what we value has an influence on what we create in life. We focus on what we value. As seen above, our unconscious beliefs have a perceptible influence on what and how we value and are valued. Wisdom is a combination of knowledge and compassion, and this is how we apply value. For many years I have had a tenuous relationship with money. I have always had “enough” but never more than enough. I never felt that I could be supportive financially, nor that I was particularly “good with money”. In fact, I fear anything to do with money; accounting, spreadsheets and budgets can bring on the sweats for me! My unconscious beliefs of “there isn’t enough” and “I’m not enough” have influenced my relationship with money. I have consequently undervalued money as a way of relinquishing responsibility for my perceptions. I have come to see money as simply an energetic reflection of the value I place on my “work” and the practical side of living. When I notice the fear of lack, I consciously choose for the feelings of gratitude and trust, envisioning what my end result will look like. This is creating flow and a certain kind of magic in my life. I now value what money can afford me to do with my experience of life. When we value happiness and abundance in our lives we create more of it in our reality.
Placing value on something, places our focused awareness on it. This focused awareness is what manifests into our reality. Unconsciously valuing something (placing our focused awareness on something) influences our reality without our being aware of it. What and how we value things is completely susceptible to influence by others if we are not aware. When we talk about our values, we are literally talking about what we focus our awareness on, however this may not always be the case if we are influenced by unconscious beliefs. Every individual is responsible for creating the collective reality because we are all part of the whole. If we individually and collectively value peace, joy, abundance and (dare I say it) love - that is what we will manifest into our reality. Perhaps this is valuable work we all need to do - examine how and what we value and what we’re creating as a consequence?
