[nandm]

Day 2

Humility is not humiliation

"Humility has its origin in an awareness of unworthiness, and sometimes too in a dazzled awareness of saintliness." Colette

The word, "humbly," which appears in this step, makes some of us more than a little concerned that we're expected to abase ourselves in order to successfully accomplish its intent. Such is not the case, for what we're talking about here is humility----not humiliation.

Humility is the ability to perceive things as they really are, and to acknowledge truthfully where we stand in relation to them. Humility is neither groveling nor meekly bowing to the will of others, nor is it displaying false modesty about our attributes and abilities. It's rather like examining a grain of sand on the beach, comtemplating how big we are in comparision, and then looking at the ocean and realizing how small we are from that perspective.

The qualities we tend to admire most in people are those of simplicity and naturalness. We're most comfortable with people who are up front about their likes and dislikes without being disagreeable; people who neither diminish nor overstate their abilities.

We seek this same kind of balance ourselves. And it is through working both Steps Six and Seven that we're able to achieve the kind of self-acceptance that translates into acceptance by others.

Today's Step:I understand the true nature of humility and I can comfortably embrace it.

Step by Step. Muriel Zink