Understanding Humility

“Humility is rare because to have it you have to want nothing, yet when you have it you get everything”

The thing about humility is it is often missed. It is noticed far more often when someone has a lack of it. It is so subtle in people that others don’t even realise it is there. And for those that say they are humble and full of humility, by that statement alone it proves they are not.

Real humility is missed because it doesn't stand on the roof tops shouting “look at me I am humble” and other times it is missed because it isn't there in the first place. However the main reason real humility is missed is because people have a misguided idea of what it actually is.

You do not need to make yourself the subject of humiliation to be humble or have humility. There is no need to belittle your actions or yourself to be humble either. The main point of humility is acceptance of self, doing without need or want of recompense or glorification and just being.

When someone does something good for others they do not belittle their actions or self, they merely accept that what they have done is obvious, needed and a logical course of action. Humility is shown by people that are often unseen in group successes, by people who act for others without thought of gratitude. A good example of someone with humility was Mother Theresa.

A great number of people believe humility is a way of gaining approval from their chosen deity, however if they act with humility for this reason, then there is no humility in their actions.

Humility, true humility can only come from our hearts, from our truths as a person. We must learn to love ourselves, to be happy and peaceful from within with all we do, without this our attempts of love, compassion and peace are meaningless as our actions are either directly or subliminally directed towards us in the hope we will make ourselves feel better, feel good and/or suppress our feelings about ourselves. Is this the act of humility? How CAN you love others if you have no love for yourself. Once we have learned to love ourselves we can then act everyday with the utmost compassion for other beings and share the love we have on tap whenever we choose to use it without any hidden meanings or self service. 

In other words, genuine humility is the ultimate expression of love!

We must be careful not to be fooled into trying to be humble. This leads our potential levels of humility into a false humility. Actions carried out with underlying motives only serve us in a negative way. Do we make less of what we do for bigger gain later for instance? The actions of two people can look completely humble however the motives for one can be completely different to the other. We see these types of actions in many companies around the world. When someone looks as if they sacrifice their position for the greater good but makes sure everyone knows about it. 

There is a huge difference between being and acting humble.

We should encourage others to have and act with humility and if we experience the gift of humility from another we should “pay it forward” to two or more people that need our help and so on. Soon the whole world will know humility and will have acted in a humble way via this model. So if we "practice what we preach," we can show others exactly what humility is.