20 Jan Pride: a deadly sin or something that makes life awesome!?!?
via Eric Barker
No, not lust. Calm down. This is not that kind of website.
I’m talking about pride. When you think about the deadly sins, pride’s actually kinda confusing. Few ethical people are running around advocating greed. Wrath isn’t going to make you a lot of friends. And, as the saying goes, envy is the one deadly sin that’s no fun at all.
But we all think it’s okay to be proud of your family, proud of your country, proud of your religion and proud of yourself. We encourage it. Ever wished someone “took more pride in their work”? Of course you have.
Without some amount of pride there’s a void in our lives. An emptiness. And yet we also agree that being prideful is bad. Nobody likes jerks, narcissists or hubris. (In fact, Dante said that pride was the deadliest of the deadly sins.)
And the confusion’s right there in the dictionary. Merriam-Webster has two definitions for pride. And they’re contradictory.
From Take Pride: Why the Deadliest Sin Holds the Secret to Human Success:
Consistent with this multiplicity of meaning, Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary lists two definitions for the English word pride— and two that could not be more antagonistic. The first is “inordinate self-esteem/ conceit.” The second? “A reasonable or justifiable self-respect.”
So what gives? When you look at the psychological research, it turns out that pride does come in two flavors. One can give you the motivation and grit to become the best version of yourself. Far from being a deadly sin, it makes you kinder and more compassionate. People who possess this kind of pride are happy, healthy, popular and prestigious.
And then there’s the other kind. It leads you to cheat, lie and take advantage of others. It’s marked by aggression, manipulation and dominance.
In professor Jessica Tracy’s book Take Pride: Why the Deadliest Sin Holds the Secret to Human Success she explains some fascinating new research about how pride has enormous power to greatly improve — or irrevocably harm — your life.
You’re gonna be proud of something, that’s for sure. So it’s pretty important we learn how to do it the right way.
Alright, strap in. We’re gonna make some sense of this pride thing…
…keep reading the full & original article HERE