I sit in my new home, so grateful for my life. The oxymoron of feeling this much gratitude and joy, and also missing and mourning Merlin, our cat, is still quite unsettling. I am still working through this and allowing myself the time to feel all my emotions. I am not rushing anything.

However, right now, I will focus on my gratitude, which brings me to  my feelings of self-worth and self-respect. This is the topic we are dealing with this week in James Mellon’s Mental Muscle. How much self-worth do you feel?

As we look at our lives, we can use it as a good barometer. Our lives show us, I believe, how much self-worth we feel. As I look out at my life, I can tell that I have risen a great deal in this area. My ability to receive is accelerating. This has not always been the case and it is an area that I have had to work on for many years.

So, what has changed? How did I up my ability to receive and accept my good. To tell you the Truth, I think it was just a conscious choice to do so. I believe it has been a process, but only because I believe in process. It all started the day I had that awakening at Starbucks. I was buying a $20 gift certificate for someone while at the same time refusing to buy myself a banana because it cost a $1. I was hungry and wouldn’t do it. Then something clicked as I held the banana in one hand and the $20 gift certificate for someone else in the other hand. What was I doing? Yes, that was the day the journey began.

So, I invite us all to consider our self-worth and self-respect barometers. Who is in our life? How are we spending our time? Where am I invested? Someone I was with today told me they finally let go of something because they realized it wasn’t lighting them up. It wasn’t easy and she had to speak up for herself and risk rejection, but it was worth it to stand in her light.

The Spiritual Journey is not an easy one. It takes courage to love oneself, to forgive and to constantly be vigilant in our thought processes and feelings. It takes a huge deal of self-respect to speak our truth. However, it is so worth it.

As I look at my life now, I ask myself “How did I get here?” I realize that I really don’t know how I got here in the world of form, but I do know how I got here spiritually. Practice…practice…practice.

Try this affirmation on for yourself, “I am worth it!”

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita