Everything in our lives is a priceless gift until we devalue it by assigning value to it. It took a turkey to teach me this and I will be forever grateful.
I walked into a store in my town for a quick bite and it turns out they were selling oven ready organic turkeys. What luck! I ordered a 16 pounder. Having this errand taken care of was a relief. Everything was great until I went to pay. The cashier rang me up and informed me that my turkey would be $130. What??
I could feel myself starting to lose it. I rarely catch myself before I make a scene but this time I did. Rather than go down the all too familiar rabbit hole, I decided to take charge of my mind and emotions, slow everything down and just observe my thoughts for a second. Phew…. Ok…. Now (I asked myself) what the hell is going on? Well, (I responded) the price of the turkey came out of left field and definitely got my attention. Clearly, that triggered something. Following that shocking snap-to, anger quickly followed. Next came the shaming internal dialog about being weak or a sucker for being duped, taken advantage of, ripped off. While the cashier might have set off the relay, my inner bitch grabbed the baton and ran it over the finish line all by herself. My assessment of the whole shebang? My victim program was in over-drive and it was all too familiar. Been there, done that. What I saw was this had nothing to do with the turkey and everything do with the perceived power play between me and the store owner.
Now you may be starting to wonder or even cringe at what this may be looking like. Perhaps picturing me standing there at the cash register weirdly frozen for an uncomfortable amount of time. Actually, this internal experiment only took a nanosecond. Nothing is faster than the speed of thought. Still, I had yet to respond or pay. I was at that moment of choice of which we are rarely conscious. And the burning question was do I get all indignant and return this golden goose or do I rewrite my program?
What flashed through my mind was: GRIEVANCE BLOCKS MIRACLES. If I chose to indulge my grievance about this turkey exchange, I was going to miss the miracle. It doesn’t get any plainer than that, so I opted to give up my victim status and here is what came to me….
Why are you even arguing about the price of a turkey? Your turkey is priceless. One hundred and thirty dollars is irrelevant, it has no meaning. You can’t put a price on something that will have given its life in divine service so that your family could enjoy a feast on Thanksgiving. I never thought about turkey or any food this way before, as a beautiful, priceless gift. I began to realize that true gifts have no value. They are priceless.
I paid and left the store realizing that I would happily have paid anything for that turkey. And there is was. My victim was gone and in its place was pure gratitude, pure joy, pure love. I had this incredible sensation of being free and happy. It was a turkey miracle.
What I have come to realize is that everything in our lives is priceless. It took a turkey to teach me this and I will be forever grateful.
The turkey transaction was now a year ago. Immediately post purchase I realized the following.
What is priceless has no value (like my turkey).
Gratitude is the natural result of seeing everything as priceless.
Ironically, giving value to something (like my turkey), devalues it. (I devalued my turkey when I assigned it a value - which was then exceeded by the store owner.)
And what we devalue we are not grateful for.
Therefore, everything is a priceless gift until we devalue it by valuing it.
It was a mind bender at the time but I see this exact thing happen in my life almost daily. Thanks to my turkey, instead of feeling victimized by the prices, I am able to see pricelessness everywhere. Over the year this has become automatic. This turkey incident has truly been the gift that keeps on giving and it has been a gateway to unimaginable gratitude and peace of mind.
For Fear: Value is out, Priceless is in....
Notice where you are assigning value or worth and STOP the program.
You do not need to see something as priceless, just resist the habit of assigning value to people, places and things in your life.
Create a mantra for yourself in the case of temptation like "Value is out, priceless is in"
As you begin to notice the program, see watch what happens. Awaken to what changes when nothing has any value.
How does your relationship with money shift?
How does the world you see change?
Do you feel freer? Happier? More grateful?
Do you interact with people and things differently?
Are you less reactive?
Do you smile more?
We are stewards of all we have, we are not the owners. If we can't take it with us, it is not ours. That turkey wasn't a possession, it was a gift. It broadened my perception and understanding of how the world works. It has helped me to be more open, giving and loving rather than closed, withholding and fearful.
This Thanksgiving be grateful for everything because it has no value, and you’ll begin to see the world as priceless.
Have a beautiful, bountiful, priceless Thanksgiving.
xoxo Jill
*Typos happen but only ego judges :-)