Humility and Humble

[Marcie]

*All please feel free to share*

Humility was one of the things my sponsor and I had a long talks about as I worked through the Steps. When I first came to A.A. I felt humiliated and I really didn't remember hearing the word "Humility" or "Humble" and if I did I sure didn't know what it meant. She was a super sponsor, she made me look up the words and then, in my own words, write out what I thought they meant and then had me tell her. I was really surprised at how much humility I didn't have. I thought I was giving, loving and caring (selfless), but I found there was always a motive, I was expecting something in return.

I need to look at this more often. As I read through these I found a lot of places I need work. Especially the B.B. Dictionary's definition of "Humble and Humbly".



Humility and Humble


Webster’s

Humility - the quality or state of being humble.

Humble - not proud or haughty: not arrogant or assertive. 2. Reflecting expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission. 3. Ranking low in a hierarch or scale: (insignificant, unpretentious) to not costly or luxurious.

2-Humble - to make humble in spirit or manner. 2. To destroy the power, independence, or prestige of….



Big Book Dictionary

Humility - pgs. 13, 73, 356, 386, 430, 456, 475, 511, 566, 572.
- being humble/the absence of self-pride, self-will or self-assertion.

Humble - pgs. 12, 83, 508, 519,……..humbly - 13, 57, 59, 63, 68, 88.
- having or showing feelings of humility rather than of pride or arrogance/ not showing or feeling superiority towards others/modest/being aware of ones shortcomings/ reflecting a spirit of submission or courteous yielding to the opinion, wishes or judgment of another.

Humility:
“perpetual quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble. It is never to be fretted or vexed, irritable or sore; to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised, it is to have a blessed home in myself where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret and be at peace, as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and about is seeming trouble.

Dr. Bob & The Good Old-timers


And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation - some fact of my life - unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God’s world by mistake. Until I could I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what need to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes.

B.B pg. 417

[caressa]

Great topic and one of my favorite. My sponsor told me that it was finding me true self and finding self-honesty and being at one with myself. A long-timer told me that it was being teachable. Not knowing and thinking that I knew everything and that I was open to new idea and concepts. My best thinking got me to the doors of recovery. What made me think that I was a leading authority, especially when it came to others. All I could do was share my own experience, strength and hope with a hope that by sharing myself, I could help others and that they could identify, not compare.

I compared for years and stayed sick.

I heard a long-timer say, "If you hear someone say they have humility, you know they haven't got it."

Being full of myself and thinking I walked this recovery road myself and I did it my way is sure destructive thinking. I had guidance and shared exeriences with others, suggestions and resources to go to for further growth. I had sponsors, co-sponsors, spiritual advisors and counsellors who helped me to look at my life and to be truly honest with who I am.
It was important to look at who I was in today. This is a one day at a time program. My disease isn't who I am. My actions and my reactions speak volumns, and although I had a lot of humiliation in my life, this program taught me, that those experience helped me to get to where I am today. Without them, I wouldn't be who I am today.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humility

[Marcie]

Thanks Caressa

[SunnyGirl]

Nov 10, 2009 17:58:38 GMT -5 Marcie said:

Humility:
“perpetual quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble. It is never to be fretted or vexed, irritable or sore; to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised, it is to have a blessed home in myself where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret and be at peace, as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and about is seeming trouble. Dr. Bob & The Good Old-timers

And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation - some fact of my life - unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God’s world by mistake. Until I could I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what need to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes. B.B pg. 417

Marcie, thank you for the original post, it was just what I needed
to read today.....

and Caressa thank you for sharing your ESH....

Thank you both for all that you do.... Hugs, SG

[caressa]

...a blessed home in myself where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret and be at peace.

Really like this and the picture the words portray. Never thought of it in those words, but so many times, I have been grateful for that place of abode and the peace I find there amongst all the chaos of emotions and the trials and tribulations of life.

It never ceases to amaze me how I can surrender, ask for help, and find that peace that goes from the top of my head to the tip of my toes. It is real. I know. I have been there.

[Marcie]