Pride can be different than feeling good about ourselves.
Please discuss. How does this play out in life?
I’ll start us out. We all like to feel satisfaction for a job well done or a major achievement attained. It’s healthy to celebrate our successes and recognize the fruits of our labor. We also enjoy it when others praise us and acknowledge our attainments.
In these situations, we’re being give credit—whether by ourselves or by others—for something we’ve accomplished. The focus is on the end result and not on our intrinsic nature. If we fail in a goal, we might as easily generate denigration, either internal or external.
We also have positive feelings about things that are basic to us—musical or artistic talent, physical attributes, keen senses or perception, native intelligence. We like these things about ourselves and take them for granted, but time, illness, or accident could erode or negate them. We see them as an essential part of ourselves, yet they are not eternal.
What then is left for us to value in ourselves that isn’t conditional or temporary? What can we rely on to always be a positive for us?
Our essential divine nature, our interconnection in creation is always present, always perfect, and can never be devalued. It shines steadily within us whether or not we or others acknowledge it. Divine co-creators is in essence who we are, inborn with this magic and having the resources of all existence at our disposal. This truth of ourselves is something about which we can always reliably feel good.
Today’s message guides to me place more focus on exposing and recognizing my inner divinity, allowing its conscious presence in more of my everyday actions and interactions. Pride in achievements or personal qualities will fade. It may also lead me to be more rigid in my stance in life. Fear of losing what I’m proud of may narrow my possibilities and responses.
Feeling good about being a unique, essential, and inseparable part of creation will give me the natural confidence to be willing to change, to accept altering life circumstances gracefully, to know that I am always okay. The freedom of realizing and valuing who I really am brings ease and joy to my life.
How about you? How and why do you feel good about yourself?