Humility is a very hard quality to achieve — especially for high schoolers, since we are trapped in a competitive society in which the only way to thrive is by being better than others. But how can you be good at something without developing an unhealthy ego about it? How can you rise to the top while still remaining humble?

Change your perspective

The meaning of humility can be understood from this brilliant quote by C.S Lewis: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” 

Humility doesn’t mean being meek or insecure. It means not being self-absorbed. A great way to overcome this is to shift our attention from ourselves to others. Start appreciating others. Express your appreciation with acts of kindness. Respect everyone. Forgive everyone. Instead of finding faults with others, observe what good things you can learn from them. By changing your perspective, you can find so much more to enjoy in life. 

Introspect

An effective way to keep your own ego in check is to introspect yourself. Introspection means looking inwards and understanding yourself. This does not mean to judge or criticize yourself, but rather to watch or witness yourself.  To introspect, clear your head of any distracting thoughts and ask yourself questions like:

What is stopping me from becoming humble?

How can I overcome that obstacle?

How can I improve myself and better myself so I can become humble?

Introspection helps you to realize your shortcomings and ego without feeling guilty about it. That’s a sign of humility!

Meditate

An activity that goes hand-in-hand with introspection is meditation. A great meditation technique that will definitely help you become humble is Sahaja Yoga meditation. Sahaja Yoga awakens a new awareness of peace and joy within called thoughtless awareness. This means that when you meditate, all your thoughts slowly reduce until there are none left. With no thoughts to disturb you, you can introspect effortlessly. You get to truly know yourself. This not only improves your sense of self, but also makes you confident and humble. Additionally, with regular practice of Sahaja Yoga meditation, you become extremely peaceful and balanced. 

If you come to think of it, being humble is actually quite easy. But, of course, we humans love to complicate things, don’t we? We either fall for our pride and become arrogant, or we fall for our insecurities and become underconfident. That’s why humility may seem like a hard or even impossible quality to imbibe; there’s always going to be those two extremes hindering you from truly becoming humble. 

However, upon developing humility, your whole perspective changes. You begin to appreciate even the little things in life and you can find a plenitude of things to feel gratitude for. Humility is the essence of gratitude. It is an essential moral value, felicitous in November, the National Month of Gratitude.