Underbelly: 10 Things - Value

#112 in a series of wild and precious ways to understand our value.

This week I contemplated value.

We’re in the homestretch of Lent :) with next Sunday being Palm Sunday and the following Sunday being Easter.

Back in the beginning of March, I had an elaborate writing practice / early morning wake up / no alcohol regime decided for Lent when a series of opportunities to work for free presented themselves and I jumped on board. It seemed like a way better Lent practice than what I had devised and would take the same amount of time.

You need to know that back in the 90s, my Dad and his wife began a practice (she as a Jungian analyst; he as a CPA) of counseling / coaching / workshopping the idea of value in relationships. Their idea being that if you could reconcile money in relationship, everything else was simple. Their work has continued to inspire me.

I learned so much from this Lent practice — about myself, about other people, about what value means. One clear learning that keeps coming up for me this season is how tangled our intrinsic value as a human can get with how much financial compensation we receive / earn.

When something is valued, it counts. It is seen. It carries weight.

What do you value?

Time is spent on valued things. What do you value?

Care is given to valued things. What do you value?

Society often values things that can harm relationships. What are some ways that you reconcile this in your own life?

Spend a week observing what you value. Notice whether it aligns with what you feel your best self would value. Notice when you are transactional in your relationships.

I struggle daily with the juxtaposition of what I value / want to value with what I feel pressured to value. I’d like to encourage us to heighten our awareness of where this might be out of sync in our relationships.