✨Word of Wonder: Humility✨

Humility:

Humility is the quality of having a modest or low view of one's importance. It involves recognizing and accepting one's limitations and imperfections, valuing others, and being open to new ideas and feedback.

To my newest discovery: The Death of Ego.

 Having a modest view of one’s self-importance is probably the most crucial part of being a quality person.

 If one thinks too highly of oneself, then one is truly alone. No one can help someone who believes they can do everything better. They can think better, act better, perform better. In truth, they’re only serving their own ego.

Being a quality person means passing on skills and wisdom that are worth having, as well as gleaning from the skills and wisdom of others. This is how growth happens. If you’re alive and believe you are “complete,” you are lying to yourself.

If you’re lying to yourself, then you can only be lying to everyone around you, at least in an underlying sense. Even the ones you love, or especially the ones you love. They are the victims of your self-importance.

I thoroughly believe we are designed to work together

-Neema Hekmat

People seek validation and gratification through collaboration. This is how we build self esteem and character. Think about a time where you went out of your way to help someone solve some sort of problem they were encountering. Now think of how you felt when you were able to help them overcome, or see the solution to whatever conundrum they were facing. Did you feel good? Did you feel validated? I'll bet you did.

Humans are tribal in nature, we are designed to work together. When one comes in with their pompous self righteous bull crap; that persona says "I don't need you." This causes people around you to become estranged from you. You make yourself a victim.

Not theirs. your own.

This for me, is a very important point. Too many times in my life I have caused the closest people to me to become estranged from me, and I always blamed them. all the "boo hoos":

They just don't understand me

They are heartless

They're not capable of caring for me

The truth is, I don't understand me. I am acting heartless. I am not accepting care.

  Yes, I am my own antagonist.

Are you?

I promise if you don’t open your eyes to the places where you lack, those things, those flaws will morph your self-important perception into a self-loathing prophecy. You can hide if you’d like, but you’re only stunting your own personal growth just to feed a self-imagined ego.

This is a fragile way to exist.

For you can never be the protagonist in your own story because you are allowing yourself to stay stagnant, enslaved by the flaws you refuse to recognize. Un-recognized flaws can cocoon and morph into negative personal traits that one can become blind to.

Eventually someone who loves you will call you on your bullshit, and then your fragile sense of self shatters into a million pieces, so you will do everything you can to push them away. Eventually, they will go. Then you will be begging and praying for help.

Ego is just a coward's hiding spot. -averagebenjamin

"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom."

- Proverbs 11:2

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves."

- Philippians 2:3

I used to have a favorite saying, a catchphrase of sorts. It went something like this: “I’ve been wrong before. Once. Turned out I was right.”

This was a personal insinuation that I was always right even when I was wrong. The sad part is that I actually began to believe it. It led me down a very lonely road.

I couldn’t ask for help because I thought no one could do it like I preferred. Even if I had asked for help, none would come. For on the outside, I apparently had it all figured out; there was no room for outside collaboration.

I knew better; there was a terrified part of me deep inside that cried out for help. I often used alcohol to silence that little creature. I have since found out that the unbridled truth of a person will surface eventually, and if one hasn’t confronted oneself with purpose on purpose, this unattended wound or affliction gains all the power. That power is surely unbridled, and unbridled power can only lead to pandemonium and destruction.

Think of an atom bomb, just a giant uncontrolled burst of energy…

of power.

Destruction is the only beneficiary of such chaos.

The truth is, I wanted help but didn’t know why. How is this possible?

It’s strange to think about now.

I think fear of humility led to the lack of gratitude, and the lack of gratitude led to the lack of gratification. The lack of gratification led to depression, and finally, depression led to destruction.

It pains me a great deal to know that all the things I regret in life could’ve been treated with just a little humility.

I now have a new personal catch phrase:

 “I think a lot of stuff. None of its right.”

Eventually I hope that phrase can evolve to:

 “I think a lot of stuff, some of its right.”

I’ve been making some changes to the averagebenjamin.com website. So I’ve re-read some of the earlier publications. Doing so, I’ve detected a tone of arrogance and self-righteousness.

So, in addition to genuinely trying to grow spiritually, I have also chosen humility for this WoW, because I wholeheartedly want to convey that I don’t write these publications with the intention of condemnation for anyone other than myself. What my readers are getting are my realizations in real-time, and I’m here to admit that I don’t think of myself as some wise sage. Rather, I hope to pass on my lessons learned so that maybe just one person can keep far from the edge, the brink, or the abyss.

Personally, I give glory to God for putting the people in my life, for better or for worse, that I may glean from the collective or divine breadth of wisdom.

That’s is to say, a lesson learned is just an answered prayer.

I pray for the death of my ego so that authenticity may come forth and flourish

-amen

With all that being said, I want to express my gratitude to all of my regular readers, it means a great deal to me. I thank you for being members, and I want to ask one favor from all of you. If it please you, I would love if every member could share this community with just one person. I would also love to hear any suggestion you all might have. To contact me directly you can e-mail theaveragebenjamin@averagebenjamin.com. You can also follow the FaceBook page "Average Benjamin," Any and all suggestions are extremely encouraged and entirely appreciated.

Together, we are all perfectly average.

Kind Regards,

averagebenjamin