Staff writer – Maureen Gordon
In this day and age it is difficult to come across people who practice true humility; because I think many of us are too busy looking out for number 1.
Basically it is the entertaining of our own selfish ambitions; it is: this is what I want and this is how I am going to get it. Being proud of our achievements is one thing but being full of pride because of those achievements is another.
What is pride; it is an undue sense of our superiority, the lust for power, it is living for status, success fame and honour usually at the expense of others.
There are basically two types of pride, the one that says without me you are nothing, being self-centred, the other is called false humility, it means you never give yourself any credit always putting yourself down. But the fact is we are all good at something.
It is a sad fact that when many of us have attained a certain position or promotion in life we can forget those who have helped us along the way, and feel that we are solely responsible for our success.
Do you know anyone like that?
Pride is a dangerous and destructive thing to cultivate in life, it is often said that pride is the one thing that comes before a fall. Meaning that if you think you are standing tall you need to be careful that you don’t fall off your pedestal.
The other side of the coin is humility which is an honest assessment of your
Embarrassed after hurt pride. Photo courtesy volacci.com
gifts and talents but with a sense that you are not the centre of the universe. Living a humble life I believe releases us from hypocrisy and superficiality, and helps us to admit our weaknesses and shortcomings.
Humility is promoting others above you, wishing someone well and looking out for their best interest and being willing to take second place.
A humble person is someone who is able to do this without feeling threatened; or being jealous or envious of the other person’s success.
It is respecting other people’s gift and realising that everyone has something they can offer but in a different way.
Humility, it is not about weakness or being meek and mild but rather I believe anyone who seeks to cultivate more of it in their life will find more grace and favour and will live a more successful and happy life.
