Humble Yourself

 

There was a time when I found that learning about where my feet had landed in the universe was going to be a good and needed thing. 

 

Worth the effort and all that jazz. 

 

The quest led me to a presentation by Caroline McHugh that talks about being humble yourself. 

 

What in the world did this have to do with learning about knowing where my feet had landed? 

 

I am a curious human, so I continued to listen. 

 

Thankfully I learned this. 

 

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, humility is thinking about yourself less.

 

Something made me sit up and start taking notes at this point. 

 

Yes, I actually wrote down the thoughts that came to me. 

My mind shifted and learning how to humble yourself became about thinking.

My mind shifted and learning how to humble yourself became about thinking about others and not myself. 

 

How’s that for a change in course. 

 

In that past I had heard that being humble yourself was about seeking forgiveness after doing something wrong or what others thought was wrong. 

 

There has also been the thought in this direction about being humble or humbled. To not be haughty, arrogant or to destroy the power of someone. 

 

Well! Those definitions are going in a different way than the other thought. 

 

I think sticking with the first one is a good way for me to go around. 

 

As I go back to when I first heard this from Caroline, I remember sitting back on my chair, letting the thought settle in my bones and ponder it for me. 

 

How would this look in my life? 

 

Could it add to the steps coming to me? 

These questions rumbled in me.

These questions rumbled in me for a bit as my realm was beginning to look different. 

 

I began to consider how my work and life was a bit wobbly at this time. Perhaps seeking to understand how thinking in this way could nudge me in the needed direction. 

 

Here is one way that comes to me.

 

There are times when I speak about our son, teaching how he used technology and his tenacity to let others know what he needed. 

 

You may do this now, telling important stories and pieces of your history so others can begin to talk about theirs. 

 

Do you feel it in your heart? 

 

Is it swelling in your mind and soul as you read this? 

 

Excellent! You and I are in the same realm. 

I would hold back and feel the old ways.

When I used to speak, I would hold back and feel the old ways of needing to humble yourself. 

 

If I was teaching, sharing Dallin’s success and how we made it through a piece of time I began to find that thinking less of myself did nothing for others now. 

 

Can you see the change? 

 

It swept through me with the joy I now believe we are meant to live and share with others. 

The joy that Dallin lived with alongside building resilience, strength and pure love every day. 

 

Here is my current question. 

 

How did he do that? 

My lands. What instincts he was given and then crafted with exactness. 

 

He only thought about doing things on one day, which brought joy and laughter as he gazed into our eyes to give that to us.

 

This happened many times during the golden years. Each time brought us to our feet with more steps forward together. 

 

I will continue to humble myself in this way now.

 

Thinking of myself less allowed me to be there for what I needed to do next then and now. 

 

My friends, that may include what is coming around the next mountain, or over the coming river this winter season.

 

Whatever it is, may it be with a bit of reserved energy and resilient joy alongside humility.