​How can we balance humility with self-confidence?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, how can we balance humility with self-confidence? Yeah. Sometimes the word self-confidence can have a negative connotation in the sense that it can refer to I am so great. So there is, rather than using the word self-confidence, you know, it is, let’s begin first with self-awareness.
Self-awareness means, not necessarily I am talking here about I am the soul, but see, we are, we are at our core souls, but we also have a body and we also have a mind. And the body and the mind have certain strengths, certain weaknesses. So to become self-aware means not just to become aware that I am the soul.
It also means becoming aware of what kind of body and mind I have. And that means to become aware of both our strengths and our weaknesses. So, if we become aware of our strengths, then there are certain things which we are good at.
And if you are good at them, to deny that fact is not humility. Humility does not have to come at the expense of honesty. So, if somebody has a good singing ability, you know, for that person to say I am not a good singer, that’s not true.
That person, of course, doesn’t have to go around and brag, you know, how good a singer I am. That would be wrong. But if somebody, so humility does not mean that we have to be in a perverse sense, dishonest about what strengths we have.
So, self-awareness means we are aware of our strengths and we are aware of our weaknesses. And as we develop our strengths, see, okay, this is something which I am good at. Then by that, we can develop that talent, that ability and use that for constructive purposes.
So, in that sense, if we are thinking of self-confidence as coming from self-awareness, based on an awareness of our strengths, then that self-confidence is not contrary to humility. Why? Because we are not focusing on ourselves. When self-confidence leads to self-obsession, self-centeredness, that is when it becomes a problem.
So, what we have is God’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. What we have, you know, I have certain abilities, certain talents, certain things, that is God’s gift to me.
Now, those gifts, I am meant to do something with. So, even if I have speaking ability, I have singing ability, I have managing ability, I have counseling ability. Now, every ability that we have, it needs to be developed.
It needs to be used. And what we become by using those abilities, that is our gift to God. Our gift to God is not just say the donations that we give or the books that we distribute or the number of people that we bring to Krishna.
All that is good. But ultimately, what Krishna wants is us. So, as we become better human beings, as we become more developed, more talented, more capable of serving Krishna in diverse ways, we become a better gift that devotees can engage in Krishna’s service in various ways.
So, if we see our strengths as gifts from Krishna meant for his service, then that does not take us away from humility. Because the purpose of humility is to become Krishna-centered. And if our self-confidence is based on the self-awareness, that these are not just my strengths, but the strengths given by Krishna meant for his service, then that awareness can actually help us in our service to Krishna.
And that way, by being Krishna-centered, in being aware of our gifts, we can balance humility with self-confidence. Does it answer your question? Any other questions?