I Am A Five-Star Resort! How About You?
By Jenny Griffin
Have you ever been asked ‘what are you worth?’ That may be the most insulting and potentially dangerous question one person can ask of another. Insulting because it engenders in the questionee a need to search for the response in terms of monetary value. It suggests the questioner is seeking some affirmation of their own superior worth, which automatically turns it into a competition, at least in their mind. Dangerous because it sets the thought process in motion that a random external valuation of yourself is an accurate reflection of you as a whole.
How can we ask of one another to set a number, using an abstract concept like money, as the net worth of who we are? What does that say about our measurement of a person’s innate and most heart-centred gifts, and how they’re expressing them in the world? Not many people questioned Mother Theresa’s compassionate acts or the fact that she was certainly ‘worth’ something, given the work she dedicated her life to. Did she have a high financial net-worth? It’s doubtful, considering she was a nun and was bound by vows of poverty.
How do we measure a person’s worth? By their deeds, their words, their acquisitions, their ability to create things others enjoy? Who tells us what measure to use? Do we each decide what’s important in our own lives and apply that as a measure appropriate to our individual worldview? There’s no easy answer, but we all have value simply by virtue of the fact that we exist. We are, therefore we are valuable.
That said, does it not then go to say that all of us have equivalent value, on a soul level? You, me, a starving orphan in Africa, Bill Gates, Mother Theresa, a serial killer? Oh, you spotted that last one, did you? Put aside your horror at the thought for a moment and consider the great big pot of souls in the sky. Each of us as an infinite soul, comes from and returns to this pot. There are no distinctions at that level, we all have things to do, places to go, lessons to learn, and we are placed in a situation on Earth that is designed to best advance our soul. Period.
In the case of a serial killer, is it not possible that the act of taking another life, or several lives, is incredibly, soul-wrenchingly difficult? Their value to humanity as a whole may be to open up a channel for compassion, to decide what we will accept in terms of another’s behaviour, to stand up and state what we deem appropriate ways to act (or not) in our world. On a soul level, as a collective, this is an incredibly valuable service, yet it is very difficult to see it that way from our limited perspectives here on Earth in our little bodies and minds. Is Mother Theresa spiritually equivalent to a mass murderer? Perhaps their souls grew to the same extent this time around, just through very different channels. We all have the experience of darkness and light in our lives/lifetimes, so none of us can judge another’s soul journey. We all may have been something of both in one life or another.
Let’s return to the original question and look at it from a different perspective. There is a rating system in tourist establishments all over the world, designed to give potential visitors an idea of the level of service and luxury they can expect from a place. One-star denotes very basic accommodation or food, just meeting standards of cleanliness and attentiveness of staff. These places are priced accordingly, on the lower end of the scale. Five-star denotes an expectation of a high level of staff interaction and attentiveness, superior quality products and a price to reflect the privilege.
The prices are set by market standards, and when paying the higher prices, it is fair to expect that you will be treated as a very special visitor. So what if you were a five-star resort? What if all of us, just by virtue of being here, being alive, were five-star resorts? We all offer our best to the world, giving in the ways that suit us, giving as much or as well as we can as circumstances change and we learn to adapt. We all offer the highest level of service possible and strive to best meet the needs of those around us. We attune ourselves to our surroundings and give to the world what resonates most strongly with our souls.
If we all upped our value of ourselves to that of five-star resort, competition would be reduced, disparities would begin to fade away, and we would see the equivalence of our souls reflected in each other. We would be able to ask for exchanges that feel equivalent to our five-star rating and know that we deserved it every bit as much as the five-star resort sitting next to us. We would not feel jealousy or envy of other peoples’ acquisitions because we would know that they do not make them more or less worthy of our respect, that we, even with only our cardboard box, are also a five-star resort.
So next time someone asks you, ‘What are you worth?’ just stand up and shout, ‘I am a five-star resort!’
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Jenny Griffin, the ‘Catharsis Coach,’ is passionate about helping you to find the beauty, power and possibility in the midst of transformative experiences. She combines her skills as an intuitive coach and healer with her amazing organisational abilities to provide an environment filled with creative and enjoyable ways to move towards your own unique vision for your life, and offers you the opportunity to use all the parts of your story as fodder for personal and spiritual growth. You can find Jenny at The Power of Change or on Facebook
