Developing Pride in an Ego Driven World

My pride is my joy my willingness to go over and beyond its the personality of the little voice inside that says keep going don’t give up and you can do it, I for one think that pride has been given a bit of a bad rap.  The ability to take pride in what you do and how you do it serves as a gift not only to yourself and your work but to those around you who have the blessing of experiencing you in motion. 

I am a person on a constant mission to improve myself. I am always listening and trying to become more aware of areas in my life that I can grow and make changes for the better. in some of my early self improvement learning I came across this concept of releasing ego. Almost without thinking and partially due to my hazy understanding of Pride/ego early on I tried to separate myself entirely from them both.  Internalizing sayings that reverberated from my youth such as "pride always comes before a fall” or "a foolish man and his pride"  and my newer understanding of the isolation and selfishness present when acting out of an  ego based thought structure, I figured even if they were different I was better off without either  and dismissed them without much thought.

Like most, when I find that I have tried to rid myself entirely of something, somehow life manifests new understanding that bring what I have decided to “rid” myself of back into view either as a test or an opportunity often both.  My opportunity to re explore my understanding of pride and ego came from discussions.  Listening to lengthy discussions from people whose views were completely opposite of mine actually.

When I ignited conversations among my peers about the ego, primarily it seems as though there was a sense of reverence for a person’s ego. More likely to be associated with success then calamity, Men are simultaneously hailed and condemned for the size and expression of their ego. Although the general consensus may be that egos are obnoxious unfriendly and difficult to deal with, the undertones of our society seem to secretly have a certain respect for the presence of a strong ego. On the other hand there doesn't seem to be much feedback on the subject of pride. If it stands independently without ego at all it seems to almost go unnoticed.

This I believe contributes largely to the confusion that is felt in our society.  Ego tells us that we are separate from one another superior or inferior in relation to one another. Pride teaches us to value ourselves and what we do and to be honorable and honest upfront and respectable. Ego steps on the small guy lies cheats or deceives “if necessary” in attainment of one’s goals. Pride teaches that it’s never necessary to do something you would be ashamed of. 

A call to action for myself and anyone else who can identify with this post, lets work together to replace our ego with a sense of pride for ourselves and all who we come in contact with. Let’s begin to define our intent for one another with high moral expectations. Let’s allow love to be the measuring tool we use to gauge if in fact we are living up to those expectations.

LOVE & LIGHT