How To Deal With Pride

"Pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes."

--John Ruskin

I had always thought i was one of the most humble person on earth, and I am not even kidding, because right from when I was a kid my parents and teachers (especially my parents) had thought me how not to be proud, telling me how dangerous pride is and how it ruins ones life. As a result of the teachings instilled in me, I was a good boy who did everything as humbly as I could, I was so down to earth or so I thought.

But I recently came across an article on the SADDLEBACK LEATHER's website titled " The Subtle signs of pride" written by Ronald McDonald.

this is one of the most detailed article about pride I have ever seen In my life and it was quite interesting. And by the time I was done reading this post, let's just say I was enlightened. 

I came to realize that I was not as humble as I thought I was, I didn't even know I was that proud, well how could I, when I go about calling most of my friends "BOSS".

Pride! An emotion, and from my experience with emotions, you cannot fully control them. All this time, I thought I was in control I didn't know I was the one being controlled. I don't know pride had crept into my life and was gradually ruining it without my knowledge.

Hey, I know it might seem like I'm saying pride is bad, no! It is bad, it is just that on a scale of one to ten, with one to five being the healthy level of pride and then six upwards were no longer heathy, it was safe to say that I had exceeded the healthy level and I didn't even know it.

This is just a breather - but I just love his proud pose

What is pride?

I asked some friends of mine , how they would define pride, and I got some pretty interesting answer. Some tried to be open minded, while others blatantly said it was bad.

Some of the definition of pride are came across are listed below:

1. Pride is the quality or state of being proud: such as;  inordinate self-esteem, a reasonable or justifiable self-respect, delight or elation arising from some act, possession, or relationship e.g parental pride - Merriam Webster dictionary

2. Pride is a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.

3. Pride is positive emotional response or attitude to something with an intimate connection to oneself, due to its perceived value.(this is my favorite)

Dangers Of pride

With the definition listed above,  it is safe to say, pride is an emotion that makes you the "big picture" (that is it's goal) and while it is painting it, you don't even know it's happening, and even when people starts seeing it, you still do not see it. Pride glorifies you, until it brings you to shame.

And this is one of the main dangers if pride.

Others include:

★ It gives you unrealistic view of yourself.

★ It limits you.

★ It make you foolish.

★ Pride blinds you.

Just another breather - babies are cool mehn! 🤭
From : UNSPLASH

HOW TO DEAL WITH PRIDE

I remember a friend if mine, approaching me on a Tuesday evening, after church service, asking me a question that I found surprising then(because I felt it was wired). He asked, "hey brother, am I proud person".

I just stopped there, starring at him, trying to figure out why he would ask me that kind of question, because to me he was one of the most humble person I've met, and he was standing there asking me if he was proud. I obviously answered "No!" And just looked at him like "You are such a weird fellow".

Later, while we were chatting, he revealed to me that he was only conducting a self examination, that he was just checking to see if he was becoming proud. 

★ I recently came to realize that pride is one of those things you can not detect on your own, you need the help of others to detect it, and not just  anybody can help you carry out the examination, but people really close to you, those who know you, those who are involved in your growth, those are the only people who can alert you when they notice it.

★ Also Learn to be open minded, because if you are not open minded, you won't take heed to correction even when you are being corrected.

★ As a Christian Another simple method of dealing with pride is simply by praying to God to humble you.

I really hope this article help detect and deal with your pride.

Hey have you check out the article I talked about? If you haven't, CLICK HERE 

Hey! You shouldn't close the article without checking out that list, and I am promising you and interesting read.

SHOW ME THE LIST NOW!! 

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