I once heard a story wherein a fairy had become entangled in a hedge. A kind girl set her free and the fairy granted her a wish.
“I want to always be happy,” the girl declared, at which the fairy flitted up to her shoulder and whispered something in her ear. The girl looked surprised, and the fairy flew away, never to be seen again.
Well, the girl lived a long, satisfying life, and her wish came abundantly true. The tale of the fairy’s wish circulated among her family and friends, but no one knew what the fairy had whispered in her ear.
As she lay dying with her adoring family gathered around her hospital bed, a granddaughter took her hand and asked what several of them had wondered for years. “Grandma, what did the fairy tell you that made you so happy all your life?”
The old woman turned toward her granddaughter and caressed her cheek lovingly. “She told me,” she said slowly, “‘Everyone needs you.’”
With that, she closed her eyes, expelled a final breath, and passed from this life with a contented smile on her face.
When you understand that everyone does need you, when you start looking for what you can give and how you contribute to the lives around you by simply being yourself rather than imagining their criticisms and complaints, then you let love instead of fear permeate your life, and that guarantees more love and abundance than any outward blessing could ever accomplish.
[This article comes from chapter 5.49 “You Are Needed” of Heal Your Mind: A Practical Guide to Speaking Your Brain’s Languages and Turing Pain into Power by Shaun Roundy]
SLIDER
Where do you fall on the “You Are Needed” love slider?
| 1: Nobody needs me. In fact, the world would be better off if I didn’t exist. | 3: Sure, people need me, but only for the work I do, and anybody could replace me if I was gone. | 5: Some people sorta need me, but they don’t really care about me. They just use me because I’m convenient. | 7: Only my close friends need and love me. That’s good enough. | 10: Everybody needs me whether they know it or not. They’d be okay without me, but their world would be diminished without me to brighten it up! |
11. Going to extremes: some people glean their sense of value from being needed. They continually check how others react to them (and project their worries onto others) and how many “likes” they get on Facebook to determine whether they’re safe and accepted. Your sense of value should be intrinsic for best effect. Accept yourself unconditionally and go forward from there.
FOR DISCUSSION
What’s your most valuable contribution to the world? How does with your mere presence influence others?
How could loving yourself more make you even more important and needed to others?
HOMEWORK
Serve strangers in small or large ways and notice the difference you make. What would happen if everyone did that?
Serve yourself – do something that makes you truly happy – and notice how your cheerfulness affects others.