You Are The Ocean: Remembering Your Innate Worth

You are not just the wave — you are the ocean.

This short talk was born as a response to a student who asked: How can we remember our worth without needing the world’s validation?
Close your eyes, take a few steady breaths, and imagine the vast ocean — deep, still, unbounded. On its surface, waves rise and fall, each with its own unique shape and movement. We often live as if we are only the wave, chasing approval and fearing comparison. But the wave has never stopped being the ocean. Its worth comes not from its form, but from the infinite depths it is made of.

In this reflection from the Vedic tradition, let the image of the wave and ocean remind you: your worth is not earned. It is your nature.

Transcript

Hello,

This is Pavlina and this short talk is a little reminder for those of us who feel disconnected,

Lonely even,

Maybe trying to fit in or finding our worth in validation of others.

And if we're honest,

Don't we all feel that way sometimes?

I would like to share a beautiful classic analogy that comes from the Vedic tradition.

So if you're ready to join me for a short story time,

Settle in for a couple of moments,

Maybe even close your eyes,

Take a couple of conscious slow breaths and welcome these words.

Life and our role within it can sometimes feel so complex,

Complicated and instead of keeping the reflections to the level of thoughts and abstract intellectualizing,

Let's turn to the images that nature offers.

The Vedic worldview offers this perspective of everything in existence,

Us included,

Being consciousness.

And that consciousness can be seen as the ocean,

Vast,

Unbounded,

Deep,

Beautiful,

Layered.

From the dark soundless depths of the ocean,

As the depth of our pure being,

All the way up to the surface level with the waves chasing each other.

Many of us spend our days convinced that we are the waves,

Each one of us a separate wave,

Moving along on its path chased by the currents and the wind.

The truth is,

While each wave does indeed have its own beautiful individual shape and identity,

It comes from,

Returns to and never actually ceases to be part of the vast ocean.

The waves are a way for the ocean to play and interact with itself.

And in the same way,

Each wave has its own beauty,

Its height,

Its curve,

The speed at which it moves.

None of that gives it its worth.

The worth comes from what it's made of,

The ocean itself.

And you,

You're the same.

The shapes your life takes,

The things you do,

The validation you receive or not,

These are just movements of the wave.

They're lovely and special,

But they don't define you.

Underneath,

You're made of the same vast,

Still,

Unbounded ocean as everything and everyone else.

When you rest in that knowing,

Worthiness stops being something you earn or prove or chase.

It's simply who you already are.