How to Balance Pride with Humility

You don’t know everything. Neither do I. Neither one of us is more important than the other and both of us deserve to be happy. Are these things important to demonstrate in our everyday life? And if so, how?

No matter what religion we were raised, what our parents taught us or what our personal beliefs we all might admit it’s easy to put ourselves first in daily situations.

Wikipedia defines humility as, “The quality of being modest and respectful. Humility, in various interpretations, is widely seen as a virtue in many religious and philosophical traditions.”

So, how do we achieve humility more naturally in a world full of capitalists? While there may be no all-encompassing answer, the following list might help us to incorporate more humility in our everyday lives.

1. Simply just listen. I know this has been said again and again but it really makes a difference. It’s very easy to begin to interject with your own ideas but when we can listen for as long as the person lets us, we allow them to share things that not only help us get to know them but also help them feel they are worth getting to know.
2. Recognize your talents as gifts instead of abilities. We all have our strengths and weaknesses and while we should be proud of what we can do well we should see them as a blessing rather than something we’ve created on our own.
3. Ignore first impressions. This one is something I have yet to learn but I’ve seen how many times I’ve been wrong about someone based upon an initial meeting. Obviously, there are exceptions to every rule yet there is so much that we don’t see or may dismiss if we write someone off from the very beginning
4. Learn from one another. Everyone in this life can teach us something whether they are wholly good or wholly bad. We are all cut from the same cloth and we all have things to offer each other. None of us are too good to accept these.
5. Be open to new ideas and change. So many of us feel more comfortable living in a world we were taught to live in. However, I’ve learned that taking the harder road is usually the most rewarding even though we might have to sacrifice leaving the bubble that has kept us feeling safe.

The whole point of humility is to not have to think about it for it to happen. With this said, how to practice it is something that is different for everybody. Nevertheless, the result is still the same. Humility can only make us better people and make our world a better place to live now and in the future.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

• Teaching Self-Reliance and Responsibility