Pride is the feeling you get of pleasure or satisfaction when you or someone you love has achieved something. It is perhaps that sense of pride when your child has had the courage to stand-up in front of the school and read a poem. You know how challenging that is to your child but they succeeded in doing it. I can see you clapping your hands with a big smile on your face.
With a positive connotation, pride is a sense of contentment or happiness towards your own life choices and actions or those of someone you are close to you.
Pride can actually help to move you forwards towards your goals and towards better behaviour. For example, if you take pride in yourself, you might not allow someone to speak unkindly to you.
Pride can become more negative if someone is overly proud. An example is of being too proud of your looks. You might do anything to look good and not see that what is inside you shines out more than your looks.
Is pride a good thing?
It is good when it helps you to achieve something which makes you a better person. Your actions can inspire others to try too. But as in all things, it is about judgement on how far to take it. If you start to do things just to gain praise from others, making yourself feel good at someone else’s expense, pride turns negative.
Contrary to popular belief, there is enough abundance for it to go round all of us. Working together with others to achieve the best for all of you, is a good thing to be proud of. When I speak of abundance many people think of cash. In this context I regard abundance as all of the people and things you need to be happy. It is not confined to cash and could be as simple as someone taking the time to have a coffee with you and to smile and chat.
I would be very proud of someone who gave their time for another person to feel happiness. Time seems to be in such short supply in this busy world.
Perhaps pride comes down to;
I love myself and I see love in others.
Allow yourself to feel the pain and then let it go. It is not healthy to hold onto the pain as it will ultimately affect your body. In many cultures, it is encouraged to wail – a loud cry of pain, grief, or anger. All of these emotions come with loss and get muddled up together. Wailing is part of the process of letting go. In western cultures, it is not so condoned in modern times. But you can wail in private.
For years I was a closet psychic medium. I trained hard for many years. But outside of the home, I never told anyone what I was or the strong spiritual beliefs I held. This was made harder as my partner had said to me – 500 years ago they used to burn people like you! In the end, I decided it was crazy leading a dual life. It made me feel less than authentic. Initially I only told family but when I was accepted there, I went on to tell friends. Work was more challenging as there is always the fear of how going public might impact my career. I chose to describe the way I lived more in terms of my life values and believing in compassion and love for one another. I finally got over that hurdle without being fired. Eventually I became a professional psychic medium. The whole world now knows what I am.