Some Thoughts on Humility

• Humility is a great strength!
• Being modest, reverential, even politely submissive, and never being arrogant, contemptuous, rude or evenn self-abasing
• Quiet Confidence
• Knowing your own weaknesses and accepting them
• Knowing your value and strengths
• Being honest
• Chasing illusions away and realizing how much you do not know.

The Seventh Step of Recovery

“We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings”

For all recovering individuals, both those who believe in God and those who don’t, the seventh step’s call to humility is powerful. Humility is a key component of recovery because it helps to break down the isolation, the narcissism, and the denial of addiction. The humble individual sees where he truly is in his life right now. He does not play games (with himself or others), he does not make excuses, and he does not use blame to avoid taking responsibility for his actions.

Humility is the quiet acceptance of what and where one is. The gift of this acceptance is that it allows the recovering individual to clearly see the path to where he wants to go.

Humility or humbleness is a quality of being courteously respectful of others. It is the opposite of aggressiveness, arrogance, boastfulness, and vanity. Rather than, "Me first," humility allows us to say, "No, you first, my friend." Humility is the quality that lets us go more than halfway to meet the needs and demands of others.

Friendships and marriages are dissolved over angry words. Resentments divide families and co-workers. Prejudice separates race from race and religion from religion. Reputations are destroyed by malicious gossip. Greed puts enmity between rich and poor. Wars are fought over arrogant assertions.

A demeanor of humility is exactly what is needed to live in peace and harmony with all persons. Humility dissipates anger and heals old wounds. Humility allows us to see the dignity and worth of all people. Humility distinguishes the wise leader from the arrogant power-seeker.

Acting with humility does not in any way deny our own self worth. Rather, it affirms the inherent worth of all persons. Some would consider humility to be a psychological malady that interferes with "success." However, wealth, power or status gained at the expense of others brings only anxiety -- never peace and love.

Humility places us in a state where learning becomes possible. It gives us a taste for simplicity; and when we are simpler, we are also more genuine. Humility put into practice allows us to touch reality as it is. No more dreams, fantasies, or illusions. I am one among many, mortal and limited, a human being among human beings. I do not have to prove myself superior to anyone. Others exist, each with their needs, their realities, their hopes, and their dramas, and I am one among billions of people who exist on this planet, which is, itself, no more than a speck of dust in sidereal space. My life is no more than a moment in vast universal time. Realizing and accepting this fact makes us different – humbler, capable of benevolent irony, better able to stay in our place and make room for others. Humility helps us find our place under the stars.