How far will pride get you?

Pride might get you to a spot where you’ll say, “I’m better than you.” Or, it may get you to a place that tells you, “I’m the most important.” Or, the most common of all, it will do its darndest to ensure that, “I’m right and you’re wrong”.

In a nutshell, pride isn’t going to get you very far.

Deceptive in and of itself, pride has more disguises than we will ever recognize. We’re not happy with the way our spouse leaves dirty dishes on the table; pride. We wonder why the “lazy” person in front of us can’t walk down the escalator; pride. We judge the homeless person’s inevitable question of “spare charge?” when all he wanted to ask was if he could borrow our tie. Pride. It’s all pride. And, it’s the barrier to being Love.

When pride convinces us that we’re smarter, prettier, superior and, most of all, “right”, we sever our true connection to the souls around us. We create a very physical separation from something that we’re all a part of. When faced with conflict (this doesn’t just have to be a fight or an argument), it’s our innate human instinct that tells us we need to win. What this really is, is pride getting the better of us. And, when pride wins, Love loses.

Really, when you think about it, how constructive is an emotion like pride? Okay, so you were right. You were following the rules of the road, someone else wasn’t and an accident resulted. You immediately get into an argument with the other motorist about what happened and let’s say you “win”. Great! Is your car still damaged? Yes. Do you still have to go the inconvenience of repairing it? Yes. Does the situation suck regardless? Yes. But, you won! You’re the better person (insert whichever sarcastic tone suits you best). By “winning”, the only thing you’ve created is animosity, superiority and a separation from your fellow man; and, most importantly, your true self. You have no idea if that person just lost their job, was returning from a funeral, rushing to the hospital because their wife was about to give birth to their first born or just a shitty driver. Pride doesn’t care to understand; it just wants to be at the top.

Why pride is the most challenging hurdle to overcome on your path to Love is because it doesn’t just come in the form of an arrogant, puffed out chest at the yacht club. It shows itself in all those little daily instances that we barely notice because our default need is to have things our way or to be right.

Pride thrives on “I” and “mine”. It needs an identity; it needs a self-image to attach itself to. Love only requires your willingness. Love doesn’t see faces, or ethnicities, or status, age, education, occupation, the list goes on. The biggest one; Love doesn’t see hate. It just sees the opportunity for Love and wants to fulfil its meaning of helping others see those opportunities. Love will offer you the ability to understand that anything and everything we experience that isn’t Love, is because we need help. It’s because, somewhere inside, we’re hurting. Hurt is our unidentified search for Love projecting itself in a negative way. Abandoning pride is the way to see this in others and in ourselves. It’s the way to re-establish that we’re all connected and here to help each other. Let Love be your window.

 

be Love.

 

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