If one had the choice to possess just a single value/characteristic/personality trait during their lifetime – it would have to be humility. Look around you…. If a person does not exhibit humility in his behavior/interaction with others – it does not matter what power position they operate from, or how wealthy they are….. They will never earn your respect. Refer my previous blog posting on Respect vs. Fear for my perspectives on this.

Let us examine the taxonomy of the word humility. As per Wikipedia, the term “humility” comes from the Latin word humilitas, a noun related to the adjective humilis, which may be translated as “humble”, but also as “grounded”, or “from the earth”, since it derives in turn from humus (earth). Humility means to be humble. Period. All Belief Systems, teach you to practice humility as a virtue. Looking beyond the religious guidance, humility requires one to practice self-restraint and is in total contrast to narcissism and other forms of pride.

Examples of humility immediately bring memories of great and well-respected personalities from history, like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa and Pope Francis, from present times. Humility is not something one preaches, it has to be practiced. These famous persons demonstrate(d) every single day in their lives by their actions that, they are here to serve others and always put others before themselves. Being in the presence of such a person fills one up with feelings of warmth and goodness. We unconditionally like and respect them, want to emulate them and talk about them.

Most of us are mere mortals and are splintered and fractured all over by our flaws and weaknesses. That does not excuse us from even attempting to emulate and internalize the greatness of humility. This is particularly applicable to young adults with infants and growing children. Children learn by example and automatically consider as “right and good” whatever they observe as actions of their parents. Teach them by your example. There is no other stronger, re-enforcing method than that. Humility when nurtured in young children as a positive value/virtue, will blossom into strong personality behavior/traits. As children become adults, humility will go a long way in bringing peace, silence and quiet into their lives, given the cacophony and noise around them in our world environment.

Humility is not a “phased”, or turn-on as required behavior. It is deeply entrenched in your psyche. It is who you are and, is not a layer surrounding you – but you are immersed in its goodness. Yes, you can decide to embrace humility, at a later stage in your life and live with a philosophy of others before you, all the time. This does not mean, you neglect yourself or do not take care of yourself. Practicing humility simply means that you consider others along with yourself all the time. If required, you will place their interests before you, in a self-sacrificing manner. You will never use people around you, as stepping stools for personal gain and social growth/progress.

Think about it…. Humility does not cost anything to acquire. It will never harm you. Practicing it, will create an aura of goodness and caring around you. You can never have enemies, only friends. You will gain tremendous self-satisfaction and personal happiness. We have a single lifetime on this earth and living a full life of practicing humility and goodness in parallel with our professional lives is the best of both worlds.