This weekend I was attending The Wellness Way Festival, an event for people from all walks of life who are concerned about taking responsibility for their own mental, physical and spiritual health and caring for this beautiful planet.
I was also speaking on a panel about the topic of Sovereignty.
In its broadest sense, Sovereignty is about recognising your own value and power in any group, community or system that is inclined to take advantage of you.
At a micro level this could be within your family, then any organisation you work for or group or society you belong to, next your local community, then national community and finally the global community that we are all part of.
To recognise your worth in each of these settings involves being true to yourself and withdrawing from the “Approval Economy” – the need to anchor your value in other people’s approval or applause and being uncomfortable with being disagreed with or misunderstood.
The alternative is to embrace the “Architecture of Respect” – where instead of saying “Yes” to everything, your value is defined less by what you comply with and more by what you refuse and the boundaries that you set.
So, think of yourself as a shiny Gold Sovereign, and recognise your worth and your ability to shine brightly when you make your own clear, strong and difficult choices, willing to break from convention, assert an unpopular opinion and be true to yourself and all that you believe in.
As we learnt this weekend, it is when a person doesn’t live their own life. When they endure and stay silent. When they betray themselves and their true worth or value; that’s when the body, mind and spirit begin to take revenge.
If you don’t know your own value, somebody will tell you your value, and it will be less than you are worth.
– Bernard Hopkins –
Know your value instead of trying to prove your worth.