One of the biggest road blocks to peace is.....Pride....…
Mar 10, 2024
“First things first” by Stephen Covey was one of the biggest reasons why I had continued my path into personal development. Actually, it was because he wrote this book called “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and that was the first personal development book that I read, and I haven't stopped reading personal development books.
Mr Covey speaks about peace, and I personally think that all of us can use a little peace. One of the things that he mentions in the book, is something that I can personally relate to and that is the stumbling block or the roadblock of pride. Pride has always been taught to us as something we should be thankful for. But pride, in this book, is described as an emotional parasite.
There's no deep joy, no satisfaction, no peace in it, because there's always the possibility that someone else is better looking, or has more money, more friends, a bigger house, or a newer car.
And how he describes what pride does is it pollutes the meaning and purpose.
Prideful people get their security from how far up the ladder, how they're compared to others, agree? When you think about all the different things we have in life, somehow, we still want more. And I don't think we want more, because we think we need more, but somehow, we have created this need, because we just want to know that we have something more than our friends, more than our neighbor.
We just want to feel good about ourselves, because we have something that maybe others don't, and this stems from our own definition of PRIDE.
What should really bring us true peace is contribution. What have you contributed to those around you? When you provide value, or contribute to those around you, you make others feel good, and that in turn will make you feel good. It is not what I have nor accumulated that brings me peace, it is what I have decided my life needs to mean that will bring me peace. And if I want to bring my life more fulfillment, more meaning, it truly means that I want to bring value to others.
My PRIDE in what I have accomplished, or attained, is not going to bring me peace, because I simply will only want more.
My CONTRIBUTION to what I can provide to others and to the world, will not have me focused on myself, but on others.
My degree and my tenure at my previous job are simply accomplishments, and I am not at more peace because of the accolades that came with them. But the peace comes from the way I serve others and how I used my learning from those times in my life to bring back into the world.