HUMILITY
As I go through a continual learning and growing process in this theatre of life, I have concluded that humility is a critical ingredient in personal growth that is seldom taught or spoken about. To me, being humble helps facilitate growth and creativity. I truly love mentoring and life coaching. It comes from my heart. I believe it is my calling or my bliss. I have been called many things from motivational speaker, to spiritual blogger to many things in between. It seems that now a days, anyone is a motivational speaker. This is why I prefer not to be identified as one. But a huge difference, that I believe, separates me from a majority of speakers is that I don't do it for financial gain and, I am just like you. By this I mean I am not a celebrity using my star power to benefit financially. I am not a famous athlete, I am not a television personality, etc... I am just like you. I have a love for writing, speaking and sharing my thoughts. In fact, truth be told, I can't even speak properly. I am a first generation Cuban whose first language was Spanish. And throw in that I was raised in New York City and inherited a New York accent. At times, I sound more like Sylvester Stallone in the original Rocky movie where after the championship fight he kept yelling for his wife, "yo Adrian!" Let me get back to the topic of humility.
Humility is defined as the feeling or attitude that you have no special importance that makes you better than others or having a lack of pride. I can see why humility is rarely spoken about because it may seem like a negative trait. However, this is so far from the truth, at least in my experience. If you think about it, next time you hear an athlete or celebrity speak about an accomplishment listen closely. A common denominator is how hard they have worked to accomplish what they have accomplished. Or a description about how great they were and their refusal to lose. Rarely mentioned are the individuals that sacrificed or continue to sacrifice so that the "star" can get all the glory. It reminds me of the lyrics to the song titled, "Wind Beneath My Wings," by Bette Midler where it states, "It must have been cold there in my shadow. To never have sunlight on your face. You were content to let me shine, that's your way. You always walked a step behind..." It makes a lot of sense doesn't it. As a culture we praise those types of individuals. The loudest and brightest stars. We have been programed to worship them and their accomplishments and their lifestyles. Individuals pay huge amounts of money to see them perform. It would be weird to hear Tom Brady after winning the Super Bowl say, "we're not really better than the team we just beat, they're as good as us, we just got lucky." My point is that a person who lacks humility has no room for growth. If instead of focusing on exuberance we start teaching that we are not perfect and we can never get perfect, life would take on a totally humble meaning. Because with humility, there is always room for growth. Individuals that we label as professionals and the best at what they do still make mistakes. The absence of humility can only result in arrogance.
Moreover, the way I see it, is that if you are perfect, then you are done learning and growing. Your time on earth has expired. Because, once you get to the point where you think you're perfect, what's next? The good news is that, as aforementioned, even the individuals who think they are perfect in whatever it is that they are doing, they will still make mistakes and there is always room for growth. I am not saying we should not be proud at what we have accomplished but rather understand where you are and when to share it without making others uncomfortable. I would close by saying we are all humans. We all have needs and wants. We all have similar desires to succeed and be accepted. Humility has always kept me grounded. Use humility to make, not only you happier in life but to make others around you happy. I read once where humility is like salt. It gets no praise when it makes food taste better but all the blame when it makes food too salty. Stay humble and you will be less stressed and ultimately happier and healthier. I leave you with a quote by Sri Chinmoy. "True humility means giving joy to others."
Just a thought.
Humility is defined as the feeling or attitude that you have no special importance that makes you better than others or having a lack of pride. I can see why humility is rarely spoken about because it may seem like a negative trait. However, this is so far from the truth, at least in my experience. If you think about it, next time you hear an athlete or celebrity speak about an accomplishment listen closely. A common denominator is how hard they have worked to accomplish what they have accomplished. Or a description about how great they were and their refusal to lose. Rarely mentioned are the individuals that sacrificed or continue to sacrifice so that the "star" can get all the glory. It reminds me of the lyrics to the song titled, "Wind Beneath My Wings," by Bette Midler where it states, "It must have been cold there in my shadow. To never have sunlight on your face. You were content to let me shine, that's your way. You always walked a step behind..." It makes a lot of sense doesn't it. As a culture we praise those types of individuals. The loudest and brightest stars. We have been programed to worship them and their accomplishments and their lifestyles. Individuals pay huge amounts of money to see them perform. It would be weird to hear Tom Brady after winning the Super Bowl say, "we're not really better than the team we just beat, they're as good as us, we just got lucky." My point is that a person who lacks humility has no room for growth. If instead of focusing on exuberance we start teaching that we are not perfect and we can never get perfect, life would take on a totally humble meaning. Because with humility, there is always room for growth. Individuals that we label as professionals and the best at what they do still make mistakes. The absence of humility can only result in arrogance.
Moreover, the way I see it, is that if you are perfect, then you are done learning and growing. Your time on earth has expired. Because, once you get to the point where you think you're perfect, what's next? The good news is that, as aforementioned, even the individuals who think they are perfect in whatever it is that they are doing, they will still make mistakes and there is always room for growth. I am not saying we should not be proud at what we have accomplished but rather understand where you are and when to share it without making others uncomfortable. I would close by saying we are all humans. We all have needs and wants. We all have similar desires to succeed and be accepted. Humility has always kept me grounded. Use humility to make, not only you happier in life but to make others around you happy. I read once where humility is like salt. It gets no praise when it makes food taste better but all the blame when it makes food too salty. Stay humble and you will be less stressed and ultimately happier and healthier. I leave you with a quote by Sri Chinmoy. "True humility means giving joy to others."
Just a thought.