July is International Humility Month!
There are few things you (and the world) need more than humility.
Celebrate Humility Month and begin a
more fulfilling, happier life today.
Why a Month of Humility?
Humility month is an invitation to learn about the value of humility so we can prize it, become more humble, and grow stronger as individuals.
Humility comes with remarkable benefits: it makes you happier, improves relationships and teamwork, keeps you grounded and teachable, and stops abuse and violence.
Humility also keeps the joy-sucking monsters of jealousy and envy at bay by allowing you to be grateful for your blessings and happy for others’ successes.
International Humility Month is an invitation to understand and cultivate humility so your life can be healed and grow in true resilience and joy.
First heal the individual, then the community, then the world: One life at a time.
People agree that humility is the opposite of pride, so understanding pride can help understand humility. What is pride? At its heart, it is considering yourself superior or more important than other people. This belief creates antipathy or opposition to others.
So if humility is the opposite of pride, then it must be NOT believing you are superior to others. In other words, humility is believing others are just as important as yourself, and that you are just as important as others. When you are humble you see value in each person and want to lift them.
Why Other Definitions of Humility are Incomplete
This is not a typical definition of humility, but it is its heart or center. Other common definitions are incomplete and cause people to misunderstand humility, or even turn it into a vice rather than a virtue. Below are some examples of incomplete definitions of humility.
The absence of pride.
Humility is not simply the absence of pride; it is an actual attribute that causes you to value others like you value yourself, and willingly recognize and acknowledge your limitations. Why is humility not simply the absence of pride? Because you cannot fully understand something by only saying what it is not.
For example, assume you have never seen an elephant. Your friend tries to explain it to you by saying, “It’s not a cow and it’s not a snake. In fact, it’s the opposite of a fish – it doesn’t have fins, it doesn’t have scales, it doesn’t have a small nose, and it doesn’t live underwater.”
Assuming you’ve never seen an elephant, would this explanation help you understand what it is? In the same way, you cannot know what humility is by simply explaining what it is not.
Being submissive.
It is understandable that people would think that submissiveness (or weakness) is the essence of humility. After all, a humble person is inclined to show respect to proper leadership because leaders are often needed, and the humble are not threatened simply because another person is in charge.
However, being submissive is only a fragment of what it means to be humble. It is also essential to understand why a humble person would not seek to retaliate against a bully. Humility causes you to see the value (and care for) even those who abuse you. It is an observance of the golden rule. How do you like to be treated when you act inappropriately? With a clenched fist and angry words, or with calm words that seek peace?
Humble people are willing to submit to poor treatment under many circumstances because pride does not impel them to retaliate with an “eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth.” Going the extra mile sometimes means not retaliating, or even treating an oppressor with kindness. The magic of this method is that even some enemies can become friends. For example, in the 1960s it was the non-violence of the Civil Rights sit-in protests that led the United States to rethink racial segregation and racism. It is a way to mend broken relationships at every level of a community.
But if being submissive to all oppression was the essence of humility, it would be a horrific vice. It would mean “humble” people would not only be doormats and slaves to oppressors, they would leave innocent children, women and men undefended from tyrants.
However, if humility’s true definition of considering everyone as equal is applied, being humble will actually motivate you to seek peace when possible while defending the rights of yourself and others to humane and just treatment.
Inferior, poor, weak, or unimportant.
This idea of humility stems from the Latin word humilis, which meant lowly, small, poor, or insignificant, and is one of the most common definitions of humility today. However, if this was the entire meaning of humility, it would mean an individual has little inherent worth. This meaning seems to have been created by those who believed in their superior status, and were likely disgusted at the idea of being “common.” This idea should be repulsive to anyone who claims to support human rights and dignity.
Being weak.
Many people believe being humble means being weak, but the opposite is actually true. Humility requires courage and determination to be on the side of truth, even when you have been wrong. We know that the happiest people are able to forget themselves and focus on higher purposes. This takes effort and strength. Humility creates freedom to forget yourself and focus on making the world better in lasting ways. That’s the opposite of weakness; it’s real power!
Thinking more about others than yourself.
This definition of humility probably comes from Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life. He wrote, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less… Humble people are so focused on serving others, they don’t think of themselves” (p. 148). Mr. Warren was mostly right – thinking more about others is an inevitable outcome of humility – and even a way to develop it.
However, if being a truly humble person meant you seldom if ever think about yourself, you would begin to ignore your own needs and wants, and would eventually become unhealthy, unhappy, and lack the strength to help those you think about endlessly. But when humility is defined as equally valuing yourself and others, you are able to care for your own needs and the needs of others, and even say “no” when your needs are more pressing.
Humility Makes it Easier to Weather Life’s Challenges
Life is a teacher and you are the student. Even your weaknesses are a gift, if you choose to learn from them. With effort, many weaknesses can even become strengths. There is much wisdom, peace and satisfaction that comes from acquiring understanding and wisdom from life’s experiences.
You can only become strong by growing attributes based on true principles. Humility provides a foundation for a character of strength, fortified by truth. The question is, will you be humble enough to be taught?
Humility Requires (and Develops) Strength
If you’ve read this far, hopefully you understand the reasons why humility takes strength. Who do you want to be? It all depends on your choices. Will you be the captain of your destiny and take steps to develop humility, or will you live a life instinctively reacting to fear, confusion, and anger to the darkness around you?
Which path do you want for yourself? Which path do you want for your loved ones?
How Can I Celebrate Humility Month?
- Take a personal assessment of yourself and make a conscious efforts to improve in 1-2 essential areas.
- Talk to your children about what humility is and how it benefits them and others.
- Be the good you want to see in the world by forgetting about yourself and looking for ways to make others’ lives better.
- Recognize that you can’t force others to change, and that’s okay. Humility is a choice each person must choose to develop. It cannot be forced, punished or legislated into being. But it can be nurtured by providing examples and a correct understanding of what it means to be humble.
Review other ways you can become more humble!
What Humility Month is NOT…
- Humility Month is not an invitation to focus on or criticize the pride displayed by others. By nature, humility first looks inward for problems.
- Humility Month is not an attempt to fight against LGBTQ or any other social movement. It is not anti-anything, except anti-pride. It is an invitation for everyone, regardless of personal, political, or religious beliefs, to recognize and value humility, cultivate it within themselves, and invite others to do the same.