The Root of Humility
So, this last Saturday I had a really incredible Momentum Session with a truly gifted client with the most beautiful heart ever. It was awesome.
She said something that I’ve heard a variation of from a few clients lately, so it seems time to talk about it here.
This particular client is a healthcare professional who is also a deeply insightful yoga teacher specializing in resilience and restorative practices, including meditation.
She not only has a well-stocked toolbox of self-care and coping tools, but she also teaches them to others.
Here’s where things got complicated.
She found herself facing this pandemic and feeling somehow incapable of reaching for those tools as quickly or automatically as she expected, despite knowing and truly believing that they would help her.
As a result, she is experiencing some feelings of shame around the idea: “I know what to do, I teach what to do. I should be better at it.”
As it turns out, NO, SHE SHOULDN’T.
As it turns out, she’s as human as the rest of us.
As it turns out, sometimes it takes us a minute to process where we are, what we’re feeling, and what action to take next.
These things are true no matter what kind of training you have and how many tools you have expertise around.
And that is 100% okay.
As a matter of fact, I would argue that it's an enormous gift.
Here’s why.
When we gain skills, we often forget what it feels like to be without them.
Whether the skill is a meaningful meditation practice or learning to ride a bicycle or play the violin or whatever, the more expert we become, the harder it can be to access what it felt like to be without it.
And that can create a gap in our knowledge which can potentially also create a gap in our connection.
My client’s experience of struggle around utilizing the tools she teaches has the potential to be a way to more deeply connect with those she teaches.
Taking note of the feelings she experienced equips her to more fully relate and empathize with every single person she works with as they struggle to integrate and find their own footing with these tools.
It’s an opportunity to find new ways in, new language around these ideas, new connection points.
I was recently reminded that the language root of “humility” is the Latin word humilitas, derived from humus, meaning “from the earth” or “grounded.”
To find ourselves in a place that humbles us in the truest sense of the word— in a way that grounds us— is nothing to feel shame around.
It is a place to celebrate our ability to connect more deeply. To understand our inherent humanness more fully.
So if you’ve experienced any of this, I would invite you to let go of any shame you might be feeling and instead embrace gratitude for the gift, for the path to connection and greater understanding.
That’s it for now.
Keep going. We can do this together.
Just keep staying curious out there.