This is a guest post by Peter Taylor of Zen Mister:
Humility can bring us back to reality from any ego trip. If we think we are something extra special, or lower than low, a little dose of humility can bring us back to center. Remembering our humility is especially hard when our ego is busy building us up or knocking us down, but that is when we need it most.
To remember our humility, we first have to discover it. That means realizing that we are nothing more and nothing less than anybody else. We are nothing better and nothing worse than we have been or will be. Realizing our humility is recognizing that we are challenged like anybody else and we have gifts like anybody else. Although we are special, we are nothing special. That is humility.
The habits of our ego obscure our humility. Some people impress us and some people repulse us. We want desperately to be more impressive than repulsive. When we start to think we are impressive, we take off on a little ego trip. When we begin to imagine we are repulsive, off we go in the other direction. Humility helps us go on those little trips and come back to ourselves without causing too much damage along the way.
The great thing about humility is that it allows us to be who we are. We don’t have to pretend that we know things we don’t. We don’t have to demonstrate our greatness with accomplishments and accolades. We don’t have to worry that we can’t measure up. All we have to do is remember our humility. It puts us in touch with all that we are. We’re no better or worse than the Buddha.