*** How to Rise Above the Pecking Order

Where are you in the pecking order of your life? Are you above or below the "measuring up to" rung you hoped to be on at this moment in time? Where are you in the heirarchy through which you define your life achievement; your sense of self-worth and accomplishment?

If you had answers to those question in the form of higher than or lower than you are on a ladder to nowhere fast. To map your place in this world, know where you stand, you constantly measure by means of more or less than what you believe to be the ideal, the model of who you 'should' be. From this vantage point you can make sense of the world. Nonsense!

Those who define themselves according to a self-imposed pecking order will never experience satisfaction and a life well lived. There will always be someone who seems to be better than, have a life richer than, they are. Like the dog chasing a car, life is a long exhausting chase. Even if the car is caught, the high rung achieved, there will be the search for what to do next.

"I can't get no satisfaction." - Mick Jagger

What is this pecking order anyway? It is an arrangement of things (objects, names, values, categories, etc.), in which the things are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another. Those who live by the pecking order are constantly fighting for a higher position or defending themselves against a lower position. Validation fluctuates depending upon the rung of the moment achieved. The heirarchy of other things and people determine one's self-esteem.

The truth is you are here to be you. Your purpose in life is to express your full potential, develop and expand your own unique gifts, your talent, what you bring forth into this world, without exception. This is your birthright. The only ladder, the only pecking order to consider in the expression of an authentic life is where you are, or are not, in integrity with your truth. The only place of measurement is within. Nothing external can deliver your unique voice, your creative contribution. Only you.

"The best thing you can do is get good at being you!" - Denis the Menace

To seek validation from the position of others is to hold yourself hostage, a victim, to the perceived 'rankings' of others. You give up your personal power, your truth, in exchange for the power you think others have and can give you. Think of the shopaholic who runs out to buy the latest Louis Vuitton purse or Rolex watch because she thinks that if she has that item she will move up a rung or two on the status pecking order. There is a moment of shear joy at the point of purchase but very quickly sights are set on the next bling that will deliver that elusive rung. Shopping is what people do because they think it will take them from who they are to who they want to be. More nonsense! There is a clear distinction between buying a Prada bag because you enjoy its beauty and utility and buying it to make you feel better about yourself.

You are you. You have always been you. If there is any part of you that you are unsatisfied with it is because you are not expressing your full potential in that area. You are holding yourself back and no one else. So stop all this measuring; looking outside of you to define yourself. Look within. Honor your authenticity; your uniqueness. Ask what your Higher Being would want to do and express and act positively upon that direction!

"Be who you are and say what you feel. Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss