Monday Message 8.6.18 Humility
Humility: noun
1. A modest opinion or estimate of one’s own importance, rank, etc.
“Humility is the ability to give up your pride and still retain your dignity.”
Vanna Bonta
There are so many misconceptions about what humility is, or what being humble means, and this quote basically clears it all up.
Being humble doesn’t mean being a doormat or a pushover. Humility doesn’t require groveling. You don’t have to become a nun or a priest and take a vow of poverty. It’s definitely not to be confused with humiliation. It demolishes arrogance. It’s the flip side of pride.
Pride can be a barrier when it says things like “I don’t need anybody, I can do it myself” or “I’m always right and never make mistakes”. It keeps us stuck stubbornly in our opinions and judgements, incapable of learning something new. It renders us unable to ask for a hand when we’re desperate for help. It makes us unwilling to admit an error and make amends, or change course when it becomes clear we’re on the wrong track. It keeps us isolated in a prison of our own making, bound and tied by the shame of knowing we need help or we’re wrong, yet being stuck playing the role we’ve set up for ourselves.
Being humble does require a willingness to take down the façade of perfection. It asks that we dismantle pride and apologize. It demands that we admit that we aren’t always right, we don’t know everything, and sometimes we make a mess of things. From my own experience of wrestling with becoming humble I can say that within humility I found freedom, and it was worth every second of the struggle.
Humility taps us on the shoulder and whispers “be quiet and listen, maybe it would be good to learn something different”. Humility gives permission to admit a wrong because the truth really does set us free from the binds of shame. Humility is a deep sigh of relief at finally being able to be authentic and vulnerable. Humility allows us to be Human.
∞
How does water teach humility? This 9 minute ted talk will reveal that answer and more.
“Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars.”
Serbian Proverb
“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.”
Thomas Merton
“The rains of life’s blessings cannot gather on mountaintops of pride, but flow easily into valleys of humbleness.”
Paramahansa Yogananda
“When pride comes, then comes shame, but with humility comes wisdom.”
Proverbs 11:2
“A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing.”
Albert Einstein
“Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected”
William Safire
“True humility is having the understanding that, even as a small seed, we are still an important part of the greater plan. However, we are not the master planner.”
Tanya Copprue
