Humility

"Be Humble, for you are made of earth.Be Noble, you come from the stars."

~Serbian Proverb

Many months ago, a student and friend sent me the link to this blog post about humility. I absolutely loved discovering the root of Humility from this post:

"Imagine my surprise to read that humble, and hence humility, comes from the Latin humus, earth. Every gardener will share my thrill. Humus is not dirt, gravel or rocks. Humus is the life-filled, life-giving layer of soil that supports us all."

Humility isn't about false modesty or debasement. It isn't thinking we aren't worthy or good enough. It is simply seeing that in truth we are part of something much larger. It is taking off the "I, My, Me" glasses and looking through the lens of the collective "we", the shared "us".

With Humility you can still recognize and appreciate your special talents as an individual, but you also understand that you didn't get here alone. As Maya Angelou said, "someone came before me, and someone already paid for me."

What does it mean to bring Humility to your life? How does it feel to move from a self-centered focus to one that acknowledges that I am no different from you who is no different from the next person. We all share the same foundation and we will all wind up again as humus...inseparable and indistinguishable from one another.

"All streams flow to the Sea because it is lower than they are.

Humility gives it its power."

~Lao Tzu