(a Meditation on Happiness by Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD, in his book, Happier)
“To lead a happy life, we must experience a sense of inherent worthiness. As Nathaniel Branden writes, ‘In order to seek values, man (sic) must consider himself worthy of enjoying them. In order to fight for his happiness, he must consider himself worthy of happiness.’ We must appreciate our core self, who we really are, independent of our tangible accomplishments; we must believe that we deserve to be happy; we must feel that we are worthy by virtue of our existence…
If we do not accept our inherent worth, we ignore or actively undermine our talents, our potential, our joy, our accomplishments…Inherent worthiness is a state of openness–of being open to happiness.”
This seems like a great thing for me to keep in mind always. As a survivor of early trauma, this has been something I’ve worked hard to instill in myself. A great message to put out there as my book is at the printer finally! I feel a mixture of relief, excitement, nervousness – OMG! what is going to happen when it’s in my hands and in other people’s hands??? And then there’s marketing to get it out there….