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Mindfulness and Pride
Everything in moderation. A little pride is not a bad thing.
Yes, one of the classic Seven Deadly Sins is Pride. Many unpleasant things, some of which definitely come across as curses, have been said about pride. For example, “Pride goeth before the fall” and Emily Brontë’s “Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves.”
An excess of pride can be troubling on many levels. But there is a big difference between the boastful, arrogant variance of pride and being proud of the work you do.
A little pride is not about how others perceive you. That’s an important distinction to put out there. Rather, pride in this instance is about feeling good about the job you have done, or an achievement, an accomplishment, or general success.
Feeling good about your work is positive. Everyone should be able to do things, do them well, and feel good about it. Taking a little pride in your work is not harmful.
The line gets crossed when this becomes arrogance, overconfidence, or narcissism. When pride excludes modesty and reality, you have reached the harmful pride that is often spoken of and denounced. For a dictionary perfect example, sorry to get political on you but this is too perfect — I give you Donald Trump.
You can be proud of doing good things, for yourself and other people, but it cannot…
