To be humble, to have humility, to have a humbling experience.  It sounds easy and we all say we strive to be this. Biblically we are called to be humble. So why is it so hard for us to admit that we should have this state of mind, let alone try and display this in our daily lives.  

I was reminded of this during the week when a client came up to me and said he was going out for wrestling and asked what he needed to do to be good.  I said humility. We have a saying in this sport that “if you don’t have humility be ready to be humbled”, and this can true for everyday life’s experiences.  Maybe that is why wrestlers can handle so much adversity.  

I guess the question we need to ask ourselves is what do I need to do to be humble, before I am humiliated?  Like I mentioned earlier wrestlers learn from a good butt whipping on the mat, we take that as “what not to do next time experience” and apply this to our next match.  We need to be able do this in our daily life.  Rather than dwelling on the incident, think what I can take away from this and apply it to my next experience, issue or idea in my life.  This creates a more positive outlook not only on the incident but on yourself to adapt and overcome creating a more resilient you.

So what does being humble look like?  Being humble is not being haughty, or laid back or too passive, and I could go on. Being humble, while this may sting a bit, goes against what the world tells us of who we think we are or should be.  In being humble we understand that I may need to learn from this situation rather than trying to control it to achieve an outcome I want.

The bible has all kinds of references where God has humbled men and women to bring them back to Him.  I can testify to this humbling power.  When we can look back with a proper humble attitude and mindset we can see where we went wrong, learn from the experience, and have the resilient power to not let the next issue have that defeating power over us. 

Mark Holloway | MA, LLPC