Proverbs 3:7 NIV
To overcome your pride you must: (1) Recognise your pride. Benjamin Franklin observed, "There is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. For even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility." In The Indispensable Man, Saxon White Kessinger writes: "Sometime when you feel that your going, would leave an un-fill-able hole, just follow these simple instructions, and see how they humble your soul. Take a bucket and fill it with water, put your hand in it up to the wrist; pull it out and the hole that's remaining, is the measure of how you'll be missed." It's humbling just how quickly the hole we think we're leaving, disappears or gets filled in by others.
(2) Express gratitude often. Paul writes, "No matter what happens, always be thankful" (1 Thessalonians 5:18 TLB). Oprah Winfrey suggests, "Keep a gratitude journal. Every night list five things that happened this day that you are grateful for. It will change your life. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you'll never have enough. If you focus on what you have, you will always see that the universe is abundant and you'll have more." Selfish people never think they get as much as they deserve. Continually expressing gratitude helps to break that kind of pride.
(3) Learn to laugh at yourself. The Chinese proverb says, "Blessed are they that laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be entertained." People who have the problem of pride rarely laugh at themselves. Engaging in humour at your own expense shows that pride isn't the problem, and that if it is, it's one you're determined to deal with!
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