In an age of: speak up; stand strong; stand out; go big; play to win, and succeed at any cost, cultivating humility may seem like a liability. However, cultivating humility can make you a better person.
To wrap your head around that, let’s take a look at what it means to have humility.
The word comes from the Latin word humus, which means the ground. So humility means grounded or knowing ones place in the grand scheme of things.
Every single time that I look up at the night sky, I am filled with humility. I feel my smallness. The accomplishments and gifts aren’t diminished by this, but they are kept in check. This keeps me more connected because I am grounded and in touch with my failings as well as my successes.
Man Stands Between Heaven and Earth
I believe that humans occupy the liminal space between self and other. We are everything. Everything is us, and yet we have an identity that is separate.
Humility is what allows me to walk in both worlds at the same time.
I can be other aware and self-aware at the same time. I can care for your needs and while not losing sight of my own because of humility. I don’t put you above me nor below me.
If I am lost in my own greatness, I can lose sight of my failings and earthly grounded status. Humility keeps my feet on the ground. Earth is what nourishes me, so I need that contact. People give me succor in a way that nothing else can. So, I want to keep a healthy connection to that too.
Ultimately, humility helps me to have a more realistic self-portrayal. When my self-perception matches my other perception, I have an easier time of connected from a realistic place. This serves me as well as others.
You Can Be Humble and Great
You can be hard charging, accomplished, successful, and humble. You don’t have to choose between one or the other.
I think a lot of people think that being humble means to feel inferior or to be of poor quality. In my opinion, there is nothing small about being low. But there is something very small about making others feel small. I wouldn’t confuse the two.
Someone who is content to be small so that they can be in touch with things other don’t notice is closer to wholeness. Someone who humiliates others because they see them as beneath them is probably not very connected at all.
Who do you want to be?