How The Sedona Method Helps You With
“The Seven Deadly Sins”
How to Overcome Pride
and Its Dangerous Downsides
by www.Sedona.com
We know what you’re thinking … isn’t pride a good thing rather than something to be overcome? Well, there’s a lot of misconception about the feeling of pride; for instance, did you know it can actually be self-sabotaging and harmful to others?
And that overcoming pride can actually be incredibly beneficial for you?
Evidence of this is as close and obvious as your trusty thesaurus, which will list synonyms for the word “pride” ranging from the positive dignity and self-respect to words seemingly on the opposite end of the spectrum, like arrogance, self-importance, smugness and conceit.
How can one emotion evoke such a wide array of descriptions?
It helps to first think of pride as one of nine emotional states inherent in all of us. These include:
- Apathy
- Grief
- Fear
- Lust
- Anger
- Pride
- Courageousness
- Acceptance
- Peace
These emotional states are in this order for a reason, and each one signifies increasing energy and a greater capacity for positive outward action. When you’re in the emotional state of apathy, for instance, you have almost no energy and no external action, whereas when you’re at peace your energy is virtually infinite.
Notice that pride is near the middle of this list, meaning that your body does have some energy. However, that energy is often unavailable to you.
You see, pride is not inherently a “bad” emotion, but it does compel you to want to maintain the status quo. At the heart of pride is often unwillingness to change, and even a desire to keep others from changing, lest they pass you by.
“When you are feeling pride in your country or pride in your family, this is not necessarily a bad thing,” says Hale Dwoskin, CEO and director of training of Sedona Training Associates. “However, we often cling to our pride regarding past accomplishments because of a fear that we may not be able to do them again. We also cling to pride because we feel inadequate or insecure.”
In this way, pride becomes a weight that keeps you from taking action and moving upward and onward with your life. It is very much a feeling of “I can’t,” and may also convey to others that you are narrow-minded, self-involved, stuck-up or simply a know-it-all.
It’s important to overcome your feelings of pride not only to improve your relationships with others and open yourself to the ideas and support of those around you, but also to uncover the remaining emotional states of courageousness, acceptance and peace, which will help you to approach life with a feeling of “I can.”
“When you are willing to let go of your pride, you are free to feel pride when appropriate without clinging and then you move on to even greater accomplishments,” Dwoskin says. “The more you let go of your pride the more you uncover your courage, acceptance and peace, which ultimately are much more productive feelings than pride.”
If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to learn how to let go using The Sedona Method. Once you release your pride, you become open to a new way of life, one that you approach with feelings of confidence and motivation, but which will ultimately lead you to acceptance and peace. | 
