KEEP YOURSELF HUMBLE

Humility can get a bad rap, because a lot of times, humble people are seen as being too passive or weak. But this couldn’t be further from the truth because being humble means that we are confident and competent within ourselves and don’t feel the need to gloat about how great we are. Instead, we let our actions speak for themselves.

 
Keeping ourselves humble has a powerfully positive effect on our life, as high levels of humility have been associated with having a greater sense of life purpose, longer-lasting relationships, better health, greater generosity, better leadership skills and increased workplace harmony. Humility is very pro-social and has been linked to higher levels of happiness.

 
Confucius defined humility as the foundation of all virtues and possibly even the secret key to achieving success. While many people think that humility means that humble people think very little of themselves, the more accurate assessment is that humble people know exactly who they are, have identified their strengths and weaknesses and know their limits as well as their incredible potentials.

 
Here are our TOP 10 tips to add a little more humility to your life and allow yourself to live happy, fulfilled and accomplished.

 


 
#1 Listen
There is nothing more frustrating than having a conversation with someone who is simply dying to get his or her own words in without listening to a single word you say. You can see their mind spinning and rather than listening, they are waiting to speak because they believe that what they have to say is more valuable than your words. Humble people on the other hand have mastered the art of active listening. They don’t try to talk over others, instead they are eager to take the information in and try to understand what is being said.

 
#2 Be Curious
Having high levels of humility means that you are actively seeking knowledge because you realize that you don’t have all the answers and perpetually want to learn more. Humble people are incredibly curious because they crave opportunities to learn more and get their knowledge from the experience of others.

 
#3 Speak Your Mind
While it is important to develop the skill of active listening and cultivate your curiosity, being humble also means that you aren’t afraid to speak your mind. This stems from the fact that humble people aren’t afraid to be wrong, because they know that in order to learn and grow you must take action and with that you have the ability to be courageous and graciously accept the possibility of making a mistake in order to get the opportunity to develop yourself.

 
#4 Adopt an Abundance Mentality
Being humble allows you to adopt a mentality of abundance, which means that you don’t believe that your ‘win’ necessarily means that another person has to lose. Instead, you know that there is an incredible abundance of opportunities so that everybody can win. You also appreciate the opportunity to collaborate and communicate with others as this will create a win-win situation for everybody.

 


 
#5 Assume Responsibility
Making a mistake is never an issue when you take responsibility and own your part, rather than resorting to the blame game where everybody else is at a fault, but you had nothing to do with it. Failure is a natural part of life and when you assume responsibility for your actions, you have the exciting possibility to learn from your mistake and take it as an opportunity to learn and grow.

 
#6 See Happiness as a Journey
Research shows that we seem to achieve happiness more when we don’t actively pursue it, but rather when we get caught up in people, projects and things that are more important and bigger than ourselves. The happiest people are those who aren’t trying so hard to be happy, they simply pursue their goals and dreams and happiness comes as a natural byproduct. This approach works great for humble people, as their focus is naturally outward.

 
#7 Express Gratitude
Saying ‘thank you’ recognizes the gifts that come into our lives and with that acknowledges the value of others. Simply put, gratitude is the hallmark of humility and research shows that humility and gratitude are mutually reinforcing, which means that humble people have a greater capacity for expressing gratitude and conveying gratitude can induce humility in us. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude and you can keep yourself humble.

 
#8 Embrace Humanness
For a lot of people, failing at something that is important to us like a relationship or job, can cause our self-esteem to take a nosedive, because our self-worth is tied to these outward things and situations. However, people with high levels of humility have the ability to deal with criticism and failure much better because their sense of value is intrinsic and they are aware that they are human. So whenever a humble person fails, it doesn’t take away from their self-worth, it simply means that they are human, just like the rest of us.

 
#9 Practice Self-Compassion
According to research, humble people have a clear picture of who they are with all their talents and skills as well as their weaknesses. This is a great advantage in knowing what to change within themselves. However, they don’t beat themselves up over a weakness but rather embrace the challenge without judgment and with a big dose of self-compassion and tackle the process of transformation with kindness and understanding.

 
#10 Ask for Help
As we mentioned earlier, being humble means that you own the fact that you don’t have all the answers. Nobody does. As a humble person you acknowledge that fact, know your own limitations and aren’t afraid to ask for help when you need it. Remember, asking for help is never a sign of weakness, but rather a sign of incredible strength and knowing how to move forward when you are stuck with a problem that you can’t solve on your own.

 
It’s safe to say, our society as a whole could use a little more humility. In a culture that places so much value on self-aggrandizement, appearance and external accomplishments, even the smallest display of the quiet virtue of humility can feel like a breath of fresh air. Remember, humility is not an indication of weakness, but rather a sign of tremendous inner strength.

 
COME INTO YOUR OWN AND EMBRACE HUMILITY
Joschi & Monika
#BoldNaked