Everything about the world is built around a different assumption—that our worth must be earned. After we agree that our worth has been taken away, we then spend our lives driven mad by a nagging need to reclaim it.

From this one belief, our lives become a story, a game, a show, a war. We lie, we deceive, we attack, we show off, we use people—all to show that we are more important, worth more, successful. Ironically, these behaviors render us useless to other people.

Some get so carried away with this game of establishing worth that they are “above” cooking meals for themselves, cleaning their own homes, grooming their own bodies, or expressing their own original thoughts and perspectives. No, to become an “amazing person”, everything must be outsourced to someone lesser. Meals are ordered, help is hired, legs are waxed, feet are pedicured, and opinions come only from the corporate media. Doing or thinking anything yourself is seen as too common and unsophisticated—somehow diminishing your worth.

But what are you worth in this state? If you are so superior that you cannot do these things for yourself, how will you be capable of doing anything for others? Will a partner want to stay with you when you are unwilling to make him or her a sandwich, unwilling to clean the kitchen, unwilling to do a favor for fear of undermining your perceived worth? In this state, you are taking rather than giving and parenthood is out of the question.

This game of gaining worth is all about seeking approval from others. But others will never give you what you seek because they are playing the same game. Within this twisted thought system, to approve of or admire someone else would diminish a person’s worth. Nobody you know is willing to go there.

You can sacrifice so much, accomplish even more than anyone wants to hear, and in the end you will never feel worthy. You will compare your real self, your actual life situation, your real relationship, your actual bank account to the lies everyone else is projecting about these very things. You will never feel as though you have arrived. There will always be one more achievement, always one more problem that must be overcome, and you will never get there because there is this one assumption about establishing worth—which has become the foundation of your life—and it is utterly and exactly wrong.

According to A Course in Miracles, “Your worth is established by God.” You are perfect from birth and are exactly as you are meant to be. Your worth is not earned; rather, it is so absolute that it cannot be destroyed. You are life manifested, and you are divine—a spirit that is eternal beyond threat.

When you know your real value, your life is enjoyed very differently. You learn because you are interested. You create because that is what inspired minds do. You try things, you experience your wildest fantasies, you know people deeply and are unafraid (nobody can diminish you). You are self-sufficient. Beyond this, you take care of and serve everyone with joy.

Your worth need not be established; rather, it needs to be celebrated. Everything is already okay. Be here, now. Enjoy this moment. There is no destination. We continue tomorrow and each day after that.