June 24

HUMILITY MONTH: DAY 24: “Be careful not to mistake insecurity and inadequacy for humility! Humility has nothing to do with the insecure and inadequate! Just like arrogance has nothing to do with greatness!” ― C. JoyBell C.

The first person that pops into my mind here is D. Trump…sorry, no politics is the policy here, but I have to say he is the one person I have to look at as the antithesis of all that I strive to become. I am sure it would be hard to be a politician and practice humility. Not something I have witnessed in my time around this globe. Perhaps without media coverage it was a simpler task…cannot say. But I really love this quote, because some folks have such an interesting take on what humility is. They are confused about humiliation, which is a shamed and embarrassed state that results from something that occurs to us. This is not the desired state for a spiritual practice. Nor is it when we are lost and confused or afraid to speak up for ourselves. None of these are the thing we are working for here. It is really important for us to know what we are working toward. Most of us have seen an example of humility in action if we look hard enough to spot one. I have several good examples in my lifetime…people who have inspired me with their self-less service to others and who do things because they need to be done…not in their paid employment, but in their lives and with the small amounts of time they have left after they perform their jobs. Extreme humility, in my book is Mother Teresa or even Ghandi, who both devoted their lives to perform work on behalf of others without taking bows or receiving pay for their work. Others that are not as famous are people who are all around us as we go about our lives. They are quietly doing kind things for others without anyone knowing it. My sponsor used to tell me frequently that service is only service when I do not tell anyone I did it, especially the person whom I was attempting to help. The first time I ever got to do something really fun was to spend no money on Christmas presents for my friends, but to take all of that money and spend it on a newcomer’s children, even a tree for Christmas for that family…and not tell her or anyone else about it! (That was many years ago…I have used this example to teach others the principle behind service.) Debasing yourself is not ever going to equal humility, because we are essentially saying that we are not good enough or smart enough or whatever. It is like not being able to accept a valid compliment from someone. Just say thank you and be done with it. If they are kind enough to say something nice about you, say thank you. Throwing it back into their face with some kind of denial of their opinion is not returning kindness, nor is it humble. This is hard for some of us to grasp, because we are not sure what humility means. As we work through these steps, we begin to recognize our failings, our faults, our humanity and our gifts and talents. All of these can be recognized as who we are and the material we are here to work with. We all have assets and we all have liabilities, in our lives and in our personalities. Accepting our basic human-ness and our shortcomings and blessings alike, is the basis for humility. It merely means I am no less than you, I am equal to you. Just as no one else is less or more than me, we are all equal to one another, doing our best, failing horribly at times, and then succeeding beautifully the very next minute. It is all like that, round and round, over and over…the best we get to be is human…and humility, like humor begins with hum…