We are divine beings of infinite, eternal, unchanging worth. A multi-billion-dollar self-help industry would have us believe we are the sum total of our actions—that we make ourselves what we are. Many religious organizations teach the same.

It’s not true. Yes, actions have consequences, but they don’t change our worth; they don’t change who we are. We don’t earn divine gifts. We don’t earn unconditional love. We are divine beings of infinite, eternal, unchanging worth. When we understand that, our actions flow from knowing who we are, not the other way around.

When we understand our true worth, and fail at a task, we don't say, "I'm a failure." Instead, we say, "I’m a divine being of infinite, unchanging worth. My decision turned out differently than I had hoped, but I learned something from it. I will make a different decision next time, but my misadventure didn’t make me less."

When we behave in a certain way, we don’t become better or worse as a person. Our worth does not change. Our worthiness does not change. We don’t become more or less loved. We don’t become more or less worthy of divine love, and we don’t become a better person. Most importantly, we don’t become better than someone else. We simply become more or less aligned with our divine self.