This thing of holding onto the past is pervasive. I hear you saying things like: "This won't work. This will never work. I know it won't work. It never worked before." And so you cut yourself off. You are so good at finding reasons not to do something. Such reasons are always around, lurking behind every corner.

Let Us suppose that you are correct. Even so, you don't know what doors might open along the way even though what you set out to accomplish is not achieved. Because something doesn't pan out according to your desire, it doesn't mean it wasn't worth doing. It doesn't mean it wasn't right to do. Have I not told you that outcomes aren't what you are to base your life on?

By the same token, when you anticipate a certain outcome, and you are right and you do get it, how do you know what outcome will show up later? Plenty of times My children wish for something, and they get it and later find there is a twist to it, and, in the final analysis, what they wanted and got wasn't so propitious after all. How many heirs have desired to ascend the throne and succeed only to regret it later when they are dethroned?

And yet, even so, in the long haul, how can one be sure that that was a bad ending? Certainly, the world says it is. In the final analysis, beloveds, the outcome doesn't matter.

What does matter, it seems to Me, is that you are valiant. You tried for something. Whether you achieved it or not, you went for it. It is not that you have to go for everything, not at all, yet I suggest that you go for what you really want. Better to go for something than to discourage yourself from it. What is wonderful is that, when you really desire something, you can go for it! That's got to be better than stewing around about all the reasons why you can't. That's got to be better than toppling down what means something to you.

You do not always have to be what is called a success in life. With my blessing, go ahead and make mistakes. Let not the idea of mistake keep you back from living life.

Certainly, certain gifts do fall out of the sky for you. It's more likely they will when you get up and begin.

There is nothing you have to prove to anyone. You don't have to prove to yourself or anyone that you only always make the best choices in life. You don't have to prove to anyone anything.

Beloveds, refrain from judgment. Refrain from judging situations, and refrain from judging yourself. Are you My child or not? I mean, do you really base your worth on accomplishments? Must you get an A on a test in order to feel worthy?

You know that I have already ascertained your worth. Whether you are what the world calls a success or not, you exceed both so-called success and failure. You are My blessed child, and I see you as you are in the golden wonder of My love.

I do not say the world doesn't count at all. It does count for something. And yet it doesn't count for everything. Beloveds, the world does not own you. Even within the strictures of the world, you have freedom. You have the freedom to count yourself worthwhile. You can discount what the world may say. You can listen to Me more than you listen to the world.