Pride: is it good or bad?

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.