WHY HUMILITY IS SO BENEFICIAL, living up to the bold promises of the previous blog, “What Humility IS, IS NOT and how it can benefit you!”
In our last blog post we discussed how It’s Not All About You! was written with a very specific audience in mind: People who want to live happier, more fulfilling lives. We listed a number of things humility can do for us, from making us healthier as it relieves stress to increasing our intimacy with our partners as humility improves our relationships.
Now let’s look at THE REASONS humility can help us do all of the wonderful things for you that it has done for me.
Humility is practical
Unlike products which promise to change your life on the outside (you know, the ones that say you’ll lose 100 pounds in 30 days or make a small fortune in real estate while lounging around in your sweatpants), humility changes your life from the inside. It challenges you to appreciate what you have more rather than seeking more to appreciate. To focus on giving rather than taking. To focus on others rather than self. Humility does not promise to change the things that are in your external world, but changing your inner world will inevitably lead to such changes as well.
If, for example, humility helps you do the dishes and clean the bathroom, your wife will want to be more romantic (this is a well- researched fact). If your humility helps you be sweeter to your husband he will be more likely to do the dishes and clean the bathroom.
Likewise, if your humility helps you work under your boss without complaining, if it helps you get along better with your co-workers and treat your subordinates with greater respect, it may well lead to the promotion you’re looking for. People like humble people and want to help them succeed. So it shouldn’t surprise you that the most successful CEOs tend to share a common trait: Humility.
Humility changes us within. Beyond sex and money, humility will help you live a longer, healthier, happier life. Stress is the number one source of disease, and the more humility you have, the more you’re able to accept life as it is. Humility will help you relate better to friends and family and can even help you raise your teenager with more serenity. In fact, it is so closely tied to serenity that you can easily substitute the word “humility” for “serenity” in the serenity prayer. “Lord, give me the humility to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Imagine never having to worry about anything ever again. If you had enough humility that would, by definition, be your reality. For humility means accepting life as it unfolds, being content with what you already have. And while total humility may be out of reach, the more humility you develop, the less anxious you become. Anxiety comes from worrying about the future. If you’re open to accepting whatever life has in store for you, you have no worries.
Humility is also key to your relationship with your Higher Power. In his classic, Humility: The Journey Towards Holiness, Andrew Murray writes: “Humility is not so much a virtue along with the others, but is the root of all, because it alone takes the right attitude before God and allows Him, as God, to do all.”
This raises the question:
“If humility is so beneficial, why haven’t I heard more about it before?” A question we’ll tackle in our next blog.