One of my favorite movies is The Joy Luck Club based on Amy Tan's best selling novel. It chronicled the life of four women who came of age during wartime in china, their friendship as adults and their relationships with their Americanized daughters. It is heart wrenching and takes you through painful personal growth of all off all the characters and the perseverance they show as they make the decisions that shape their lives. I have watched it at least seven times and I learn something new each time. I cry every time.

In the movie, one of the elder characters visits her daughter and witnesses her son-in-laws emotional and verbal abuse of her daughter. Her daughter somewhere along the way lost her ability to value her own heart, dreams and spirit. In an emotional scene, the mother confronts her daughter and gives her the gift of three soul-searching words, "know, your worth." The movie does not show how it happens, but the daughter regained her voice and spirit and abandoned that miserable marriage.

Not everything is as serious as deciding whether or not to leave a marriage, but the advice the mother gave to the daughter resonated with me and has a place in my permanent bank of wisdom. It is a simple string of three words that can make you stand strong in formidable circumstances. To understand and be confident in the value you possess will allow you to be clear about when it is time to take a stand, draw a line in the sand or make a move. "Know your worth" is power and you possess it. If "your worth" is buried somewhere in your mind and you have not looked for it in a while, dig for it. It is there. Keep digging. It is there.

"Know your worth" is a fantastic life screen that you can apply when deciding whether to ask for more money when negotiating salary. "Know your worth" is the logic you apply when you decide the person you are dating is not really worthyof you and using you. "Know your worth" is the screen you apply when you evaluate if you are spending time with folks who do not share your value system. There is a time to compromise, but this is not the time. You know your worth and you step. You step out of a situation or relationship that is not worthy of you.

"Know your worth". Say it aloud or shout it if you need more power behind it. Put it in your permanent bank of wisdom. It is a keeper. I purchased The Joy Luck Club for less than twenty dollars, but it is priceless. I think I will watch it again tonight.