Hello,
And good morning,
My friend.
I'm Mark.
Thank you so much for being with me here right at the beginning of your day.
Wherever you are listening from and however your morning has begun.
I am really glad that you're here.
Before the day gathers up pace,
Before all the messages start pinging and buzzing for your attention.
Before responsibilities,
Conversations.
Comparisons and Those little demands of everyday life begin to pull at your attention.
Allow yourself just these next few minutes to arrive now.
You don't even need to be fully awake yet.
You certainly don't need to have everything figured out.
You don't need to become more impressive,
More confident,
Any more productive or any more certain before this day can begin.
For now.
Simply settle,
Just where you are,
And notice the support beneath your body.
Paying attention to your breathing.
And perhaps.
.
.
Maybe let this morning begin without immediately measuring yourself against the whole world already.
Because before all the comparisons begin.
Before you see what someone else has achieved.
Before you notice how someone else looks.
What they own.
How confident they may appear.
Or how easily their life seems to be moving forward.
There is something that is worth remembering.
That is,
Your value did not begin with any one of those things.
And It certainly cannot be taken away by any of them,
Either.
You see,
My friend,
There is a great worth that belongs to you,
Simply because you are here.
Because you are human.
Because there is a life being lived through you that has never ever existed in quite this way before.
Take a slow breath in.
And breathe out.
You may find you meet people today.
Who seem more successful than you.
Someone may know more than you.
Someone may have more money,
More recognition.
More confident.
And perhaps at times.
You may notice that familiar movement inside that feeling of becoming smaller.
Of placing them somewhere way above you.
See if you can recognize that moment today without judging it.
And gently remind yourself.
Their qualities do not in any way whatsoever reduce yours.
Their success does not make your life worth less.
Their confidence does not mean that your uncertainty makes you somehow inferior.
You do not have to shrink in the presence of another fellow human.
Take another breath.
And perhaps… notice the other side of this too.
You may also meet someone today who is struggling,
Someone who is less experienced,
Someone who makes choices,
That,
In all honesty,
You wouldn't make.
Someone.
Struggle to understand and,
In much the same way,
You do not need to place yourself above them either.
Equal human worth.
Does not mean,
Though,
That every action is equal.
Because people can hurt one another.
People can behave really badly.
People can be responsible for what they do.
But.
.
.
Beneath all the ways we separate ourselves into higher and lower,
Important and unimportant,
Successful and unsuccessful.
At the end of the day,
We are all still human beings,
Human beings trying to find our way through lives.
Shaped by experiences we cannot always see.
So,
For today.
Maybe you can loosen your grip on a ladder.
That imaginary ladder that asks where you stand compared to everyone else.
Above,
Below,
Ahead,
Behind.
You do not need to spend this day finding your position on it.
Let yourself step away and be free from it.
Feel your body here,
Feel your breath moving.
My friend,
You are allowed to occupy your own place in the world without proving that you deserve it.
You do not have to earn your humanity,
You do not have to win your worth.
Do not need universal approval before you are allowed to feel at home.
At home in yourself.
Let that just settle for a few breaths.
And think for a moment about the people you will encounter today.
Maybe someone behind the counter,
Someone you pass in the street,
A friend or a colleague.
A stranger,
Whose name you will never know.
Each person carrying a hole in a world,
Each person with memories no other can see.
Person having moments of fear,
Hope,
Disappointment.
Moments of tenderness.
And you are among them.
Not beneath them,
Not above them,
You are among them.
Maybe there is some relief in that.
You can walk into this day without having to be the best person in the room.
You can speak without first deciding whether you are important enough to speak.
You can listen without making yourself smaller.
You can admire another person without turning admiration into a form of self-rejection.
And when comparison appears,
As it sometimes will.
You might simply notice it.
There is comparison.
And then return to something steadier.
My worth is not being decided here.
Take a slower breath in.
And breathe out.
Imagine yourself moving through the hours ahead carrying that understanding with you.
Perhaps your shoulders will sit a little differently.
Maybe there is.
Less of a need to try to impress,
Less of a need to defend.
More room to simply meet people as people.
And when you look at yourself today,
Try to offer yourself the same humanity that you would offer others.
You will make mistakes,
You may feel awkward.
You may not get everything completely right.
None of that at all removes your worth.
As another person's mistakes don't remove theirs.
We can have boundaries,
Of course we can disagree.
And we can walk away when we need to.
And still refuse to turn human beings into a ranking list.
For these final moments now.
Come back to your breathing.
Feel this brand new morning around you.
The day has not yet asked you to prove a thing.
And perhaps you do not need to accept that invitation if and when it does,
Because you are already here,
Already part of this beautiful human life.
No more worthy than the person beside you,
And certainly no less worthy either.
Let that be enough for this morning.
Take one final slow breath in.
.
.
And as you breathe out,
Allowing yourself to step into the day without shrinking and without standing above anyone else,
Simply meeting the world on equal ground.
And when you are ready,
Gently open your eyes.
Have a beautiful day.
Go in peace.
Namaste.
