Deserving

We deserve to rest, to have fun, to enjoy life, to enjoy what we have accumulated and what we have worked for. Yet we focus so much on the thought of deserving that it borders on entitlement. We have corrupted the meaning. We say we deserve to rest as a complaint to how much we work. We say we deserve to sleep in because we have been up nights, again as a complaint to how much we do. We say we deserve the two pieces of pie with ice cream, one more glass of wine, or to spend extra on our credit card all because we feel deserving of it, entitled, due to some perceived imposition of life. We say we deserve to give someone a piece of our mind, to show our wrath, because we have endured so much frustration from many directions. This attitude gives rise to feelings of resentment, justification and guilt. We have twisted the satisfaction in accomplishing tasks and goals we aimed for.

What we don't often say is that we deserve to wake up a little earlier to have more time to work on the dream we have. Or that we deserve to meditate because there is so much we want to do and we want to be focused and centered. Neither do we often say that we deserve to eat well today because we have been feeling so good, that we deserve put some money away because we want to travel soon, or that we deserve a pause before reacting to problems in order to keep our calm, our focus and our energy high. What we deserve is what stems from our purpose, what we desire and what we are grateful for. We deserve to show up joyfully to life, offer and give the best version of ourselves, and allow for reciprocity without a feeling of entitlement. We deserve to stop living with a mentality of punishment and reward. Every outcome is a result of our choice.

Let us leave judgment aside today and purposefully have a great day. Let us change our perspective from one of victimhood to one in which we choose our moods, feelings, thoughts and responses. We deserve it.

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