Do you know why you get so upset with yourself when you screw up? Well, the answer might shock you: because you think too much of yourself to begin with!
Let’s face it, we all come up pretty short on humility. But, it is humility that softens the sting associated with failure. Without it, we panic, blame others, argue, lie, exaggerate, fall into deep states of guilt and depressions etc.
We all need to have a good failure management plan in place and it can not be, “failure is not an option!” if you are a human being. Sure, it is easy to feel good when you are doing good, but how do you stay healthy and rational when you aren’t doing so good is another question.
So, here it is, the secret to maintaining your peace of mind in every situation is the practice of humility.
If you are like me before I rediscovered humility, you might confuse humility with humiliation. This would be very discouraging because humility is simply knowing and accepting who you truly are; that would be your true self, not ego projection, role or image. Your true self is perfectly harmonious with built-in fallibility, sinfulness and limits. Of course, the true self also has strengths and goodness, but humility accepts all parts, not just the good ones. A humble disposition doesn’t downplay the truth but good or bad it just accepts it.
From this calm understanding we are more capable of expressing our talents to the fullest and patiently and productively addressing our weak spots as well as profound failures rationally.
Without humility, we become more unloveable, Most of us are very loving but in our zeal to be good people who are helpful and ethical, we’ve lost our capacity to remain loveable. Generally, we have difficulty asking for help, but especially for forgiveness, understanding and correction. Humility, the true self, shared with another lets you be loved.