Day 81: 3/22/13- Seven Heavenly Virtues Week- Humility

Day 81: 3/22/13- Seven Heavenly Virtues Week- Humility                      
New Thing- Go a whole day without look at a mirror    
Inspiration: The Seven Heavenly Virtues            
Time: All Day                
Bottom Line: Mirror, mirror covered on the wall...

No Peaking!

Reflection: Today's heavenly virtue is humility, the opposite of vanity. Take it away, Wiki:

Modest behavior, selflessness, and the giving of respect. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less. It is a spirit of self-examination; a hermeneutic of suspicion toward yourself and charity toward people you disagree with. The courage of the heart necessary to undertake tasks which are difficult, tedious or unglamorous, and to graciously accept the sacrifices involved. Reverence for those who have wisdom and those who selflessly teach in love. Giving credit where credit is due; not unfairly glorifying one's own self. Being faithful to promises, no matter how big or small they may be. Refraining from despair and the ability to confront fear and uncertainty, or intimidation.

I agree with the above description of humility--especially the thought that it is "not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less." It means that to think to highly or lowly of oneself keeps the focus away from God and others. Both are forms of vanity.  

As anyone who is close to me knows, I struggle with body image issues. Often, when I look in the mirror, it not a loving response that pops into my head. But I know that that is not how God sees me. He views me as his Beloved Child--even if I don't see that. Yet, I find my backwards vanity to be a distraction from God's vision.

Camel Pose

So, today I decided to have the "courage of heart" to take on the "unglamorous" task of thinking of myself less. I decided to cover every mirror in the house so as to not focus on myself as much today. It was liberating in someways. I had no way of knowing how I looked--good or bad. The only time when it was not possible to get away from mirrors was during my pure barre class and then again at my yoga class. I was willing to have the mirrors though to be have the humbling experience of bending to the wisdom of my teachers who teach out of love. (Luckily with teachers like Amy, that it purely a joy!) I was actually doing pretty good job of not looking at the wall of mirrors at yoga, until we did camel pose (as seen on the left). In that pose, I could do nothing to escape my reflection on the wall. We flowed in and out of this pose three times (in fine Trinitarian fashion) and each time I was face-to-upside-down-face with myself. This posture is considered a "heart opener" and it occurred to me that this would be a good time to open my heart to the love that God has for me. It may have only lasted a few minuets but it was a good reminder that I am never as good or as bad as I think I am. I hope that it was a step towards a more humble life putting God in the center of all my thoughts.