Healing and Hypnotherapy Volume - 4, Issue - 5, 1 November 2019 | Page 9

When we do gain the temporary approval (or “love”) of others, we feel safe.
We no longer feel the horrific looming fear within us of being rejected or
abandoned. On an unconscious level, we’ve escaped death. But those
feelings are fleeting. Unfortunately, because we lack a fundamental sense of
self-worth, we must continue seeking approval from others – and the cycle
goes on and on.
The second fear is a little bizarre …
Fearing our own power … what the hell does that even mean?
You’d think power would make us feel safe and strong, right? Wrong. We are
scared of our power because we’ve been conditioned to fear it. We’ve been
conditioned to suppress it, to reject it, to demonize it.
Our “power” symbolises who we truly are on an authentic level beyond all the
masks.
But because we were punished for being authentic as young children, we
equate our true selves with suffering. We equate it with the rejection of our
primary caretakers. We equate it with the fear of death.
As Marianne Williamson famously put it:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we
are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most
frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented,
and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your
playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about
shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all
meant to shine, as children do.
We develop low self-worth as a way of protecting ourselves from our own
power – the very power that caused us to be rejected as young children.
But we aren’t children any longer. It’s time to update the internal hard drive
and “download some updates” to put it in a geeky way.
Low Self-Worth and the “Original Sin”
Consider this a short addendum to the above discussion:
low self-worth can actually be inherited.
Borrowing the term “original sin” from the Christians, low self-worth is a
shadow self issue that can be passed from generation to generation
unchecked.
If the members of one generation haven’t done their own inner work, they are
likely to unconsciously pass on their feelings of shame and guilt (“original
sin”) to their children, who then mirror their parents.
So if you’re wanting to work through your low self-worth, be proud.