“Man must realize his own unimportance before he can appreciate his importance.” -R. M. Baumgardy
I suppose that many people out there share my problem or know someone who shares my problem. I am emotionally over-invested in the success of a sports team. When my team wins, I’m fired up and my night is amazing. When my team loses, I just want to go to sleep. When my team wins, I wake up excited and devour the sports section of the newspaper. When my team loses, I wake up on the wrong side of the bed. I know, it’s pathetic. There are a lot more important things in the world than the success of a sports team.
However, I’ve come to realize that maybe there is deeper meaning in my fascination with the Los Angeles Lakers. The last few years I’ve watched their headliner, Kobe Bryant, try to rise up as a superstar only to lose in the first round of the playoffs. But this year Kobe has become part of a great supporting cast that plays as a unit. Kobe has struck just the right balance of asserting his otherworldly skills when necessary yet also blending into the team as a great passer and leader. Striking this balance is one of life’s great challenges.
We all spend so much time asserting ourselves to succeed in our jobs, in our relationships, in our marriages. Who in their right mind doesn’t aspire to be a superstar as a parent, to stand out in their company, or to win the heart of a lover? In one’s effort to succeed and stand out, it’s easy to throw life into overdrive leaving little time to stop, lie down and listen. The humbling idea of blending in requires time, skill and practice.
Here are some ways to embrace humility and work toward life’s ultimate championship: deep inner peace.
1. Bow Down
“Until you transcend the ego, you will do nothing but add to the insanity of the world.” -John Randolph Price
Even if you never tried yoga and never will try yoga, there is one basic pose that feels great and is deeply humbling. Lie down on your belly with your legs resting comfortably straight behind you and your arms relaxed at your sides. Simply rest your forehead on the ground. This action gives the mind permission to stop thinking, the body permission to stop moving, and the ego permission to yield.
2. Listen
“What makes humility so desirable is the marvelous thing it does to us. It creates in us a capacity for the closest possible intimacy with the divine.” -Monica Baldwin
I recently taught yoga at a homeless shelter. The one and only student in my class was a recovering drug addict who preferred to teach me a thing or two. He wisely spoke of “step up and step down transformers.” A step up transformer exists, for instance, at a radio station where the transformer must amplify the signal out over the airwaves. A step down transformer, on the other hand, exists in your car where it must capture the radio signal and funnel it through your speakers.
A human being serves as a step up transformer in the sense that one has a thought and amplifies that thought across the tongue, through the mouth and into a conversation. A human being is also a step down transformer in the sense that one stops, feels, and listens. Its easy to step up; it's not so easy to step down.
3. Don’t Show Your Underwear
“Humility is like underwear, essential, but indecent if it shows.” -Helen Nielsen
I always admired those oddball people who wear the same thing everyday. To walk into your closet and put on a black t-shirt and jeans must be so refreshing. It must be so easy to get dressed in the morning... imagine not needing to think about what matches, what fits, what makes you look skinny. No doubt there is a lot to gain from those days when you are fashionably fabulous; but there is just as much to gain from those days when you black out the fashion and indulge in the serenity of obscurity.
*inspired by The NBA is the USA, by Neal Gabler, LA Times, 4/27/08
