“One day a boy asked his father, “What is the value of this life?” Instead of answering, the father told his son, “Take this rock and go offer it at a market, however do not accept any offer and bring the rock back to me. If anybody asks the price, raise two fingers and don’t say anything.”

The boy then went to the market and a woman asked, ”How much is this rock? I want to put it in my garden.” The boy didn’t say anything and raised two fingers, so the woman said… “$2? I’ll take it.” And the boy went home and told his father, “A woman at the market wants to buy this rock for $2.”

The father then said, “Son, I want you to take this rock to the museum, and if you are asked the price, raise two fingers and don’t say a word.” The boy then went to the museum, and quickly a man wanted to buy the rock. The boy didn’t say anything and raised two fingers and the man said… “$200? I’ll take it.”

The boy was shocked and went running home with the rock in hand, “Father a man wants to buy this rock for $200.” His father then said, “There is one last place I’d like you to offer this rock, take it to the precious stone store and show it only to the owner and don’t say a word, if he asks the price raise two fingers.”

The son then went to the precious stone store and showed the rock to the owner. “Where did you find this?” The owner asked, “This is a most precious unpolished gem, one of the most valuable in the whole world, I must have it. What price would you take for it?” The boy didn’t say anything and raised two fingers to which the man replied “Two million dollars? That is a bargain, I’ll take it!”

The boy not knowing what to say went breathlessly running home to his father, anxiously clutching this now priceless gem, terrified that he might lose it, “Father there is a man who wants to buy this rock for two million dollars!!!” The father then said, “Son you have been carrying in your hands, one of the most precious objects of our people, it is truly priceless!”

The father then said, “Do you now know the value of your life?” To which the son replied… ‘The value of my life, is much like this rock, it depends on who it is offered to. Some place a value of $2, others $200, and still others two million dollars. I must surround myself with other precious Souls who recognise the greatest value of my life, because it is my most precious possession, and I must not allow it to be under valued, its true value is priceless.’ ”

In reply the father said, ” Son you have actually held in your possession the TWO most precious things that our people have, one is the stone and the other is YOU, that is why I asked you to hold up TWO fingers” What is the value of this life??? Priceless!”

Do You Realise How Amazing You Are?

Society tends to weigh a person’s value on the scale of physical assets such as money, material possessions, physical beauty, marital status, career status and so on. And the more you have of all these outside things, the more valuable you are to society and so, the more successful you are deemed in its eyes. But do you feel really happy and fulfilled inside? Or do you secretly crave some sort of (seemingly) unattainable inner peace? Society seldom, if ever, weighs someone’s value on the scale of virtues such as love, integrity, kindness, emotional intelligence, justice and so on. These inner qualities are often ignored altogether when determining someone’s success, and in the same way you, ignore them about yourself, which makes it even more difficult to truly know your self-worth.

Our culture’s obsession with outwardly appearances and possessions has created a distorted definition of success that has resulted in a distorted sense of self-worth for many people and they don’t even know it and so have never taken the steps to correct it. Money has hi-jacked the earth’s wheel. We’re told money makes the world go round whereas it’s love—love has always made the world go round not money, not power—only love.

You are likely to find that specific outwardly appearances automatically trigger a tendency within you to compare yourself to others, whether it is how much money someone else has or is making, how physically attractive they are, their relationship status or what material possessions they have and so on. Dig a little deeper and you will find that you have unwittingly placed an undue value on these outward appearances and are using them to determine your self-worth.

Take a moment to make a list of all those human virtues that you value. Some examples are personal integrity, the ability to show and receive love, kindness, self-confidence, honesty, self-conviction, being true to oneself, a sense of humour, affection, fairness and so on. Now compare this list of virtues to your original list of outward appearances you have been using up until now as your main yardstick for your self-worth. Why not share your findings in the comments section below!

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