The Deserve Mindset
Many Me’s allow for different perspectives
You deserve a break. We deserve to be heard. They don’t deserve to be mocked. I deserve happiness. People deserve to feel loved.
I’ve said, and meant, everyone of those “deserve” statements. As a thinking feeling human being it appeals to my sense of justice, morality, and basic human needs. People do need breaks, and to be heard, and to be treated respectfully, and people need times of happiness, and to love and be loved. Ultimately to live a life of purpose and fulfillment.
Or do they?…I’ll come back to that in a later post.
The point here is we need things, and the needing doesn’t grant us entitlement to our needs. I need to give my love and receive love to experience the profound emotional and psychological interchange of healthy pair bonding. We cannot ignore our primate mammalian biology. We are social animals with consciousness, and we are still exploring what that means.
A dog requires many of the things listed above and much more to live a life we’d label “well lived”. Does every dog deserve those things? A tree needs sunlight, fertile soil, and carbon dioxide to grow. Does a tree deserve those things? Let’s shift perspective a bit again and look at a business. Businesses need capital, organization, time, dedication, and so on to succeed. If Any one of those factors don’t measure up the business may fail, but does it deserve what it needs? Does a business deserve to succeed? Does a human deserve the air they breathe? Need does not equal deserve.
The difference need and deserve isn’t a matter of opinion or perspective. One is a truth and one is an opinion. I trust you dear reader can tell the difference.
What does a human being need to survive? What does a planet need to survive? Does our planet need us? Doesn’t seem like it to me but I’m not a scientist. I am a passionate explorer of the mind body connection, and mindfulness advocate. Do I deserve to be listened to? Would I deserve to be listened to were I to have a PhD, or a signed letter of recommendation from a politician, or individual of note? The answer is no.
No matter what I do, or say, or learn, or discover I will never objectively deserve to be heard. I write this because, much like you I imagine, I feel the need to be heard. I feel passionate about sharing my perspective and helping others feel more comfortable with their stories. I hope I am heard, but I acknowledge that I don’t deserve it.
Entitlement can grow from almost any belief.
Be grateful for the air you breathe because you don’t deserve it.
Stay Mindful
