Chapter 26.3: Don't Discard Your Values

This is the reason that, at the end of a full day of travel,

sages will not leave their heavy wagons –

 for they are laden with their valuable nest-eggs.

Even though there are lavish spectacles to behold –

ornate palaces like trees ablaze with beautiful blossoms,

people flitting all about like tweeting swallows –

they stay and shine right where they are, as they are.

We live in a world that is constantly trying to grab our attention with all the latest and greatest.  We are bombarded with constant click-baits, airbrushed eye-candy, and the never-ending rabbit holes of “trending now.”  The world is constantly vying for our attention and attempting to lure us toward whatever product they are promoting that day with subtle promises that it will make us feel better about ourselves, solve all our problems, or enhance our worth somehow.  There are places to go, sights to see, and things to buy.

On our individual and shared journeys through life, sages (wise people) understand the importance of standing by our values and avoiding the allure of anything that would draw us away from the treasures within.  How many times have seen the rags to riches to ruin story play out in our culture?  Far too often, we set out to prove ourselves to the world, looking without for something that we already carry within, for a validation and affirmation that cannot come from any external source but that is already embedded in the very fabric of our souls – we just fail to see it, refuse to acknowledge it, and miss out on the opportunity to give that gift to ourselves – but it is nonetheless already ours.

Instead, we can embrace our place in the universe!  We already belong.  Each of us is awesome, amazing, and absolutely essential in this world!  We can stand up, stand out, and stand tall and be ourselves.  We can liberate ourselves by eliminating limiting labels.  We can get off the roller coaster of relative worth and the corkscrew of comparison.  We can beware of "the beauty trap" and steer clear of subjective social stereotypes.  We don't need to accessorize or enhance ourselves to fit in or prove our worth in this world – doing so actually robs ourselves of our innate and inherent self-worth, just as we are – and we are, each of us, rare and unique treasures – we don't need to show off!  Accept that truth above all else!  We don't have to promote our worth and value to others to feel good about ourselves.  We only need to choose to believe it and live out of that belief regardless of the volatile vitriol of all the haters out there who think that belittling others actually builds them up.  That only reveals where they are in their lives not who we are.  Each of us has great gifts to give and beautiful blessings to bring to this world!  We are beings of unlimited and infinite potential.  So let us not sell ourselves short when others fail to see our value – it is only because they fail to see their own.  Shine where we are, as we are and let that ember of excellence ignite the inspiring identities of all those we come in contact with. ~ DCB

Etymology Notes:

The character 輜 (zī) refers to a covered supply wagon filled with baskets 甾 (zī) containing produce from cultivated and irrigated fields – the harvest of their hard work and labors.   It is closely related to the meaning word 巢, 'bird's nest' or 'tree basket.'  Just as the egg in the nest is the most precious, valued, and important treasure for a bird, so much so that bird's rarely leave their "nest egg" for long – for it is the future, so too are our values and the things we prize and treasure of equal importance and we need to stand by them and not be lured away from them.

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