Confident Humility: Becoming Your Full Self without Becoming Full of Yourself

Have you ever noticed how self-help books hardly ever talk about what a "self" actually is which they intend to help? Most self-help books assume an understanding of what a self is, and press forward with their wisdom. But those assumptions of what a self is profoundly shape the nature of the wisdom that can be offered. Dan Kent argues that almost all self-help wisdom emerges from one of two flawed views of the self, two opposing ditches, and these mutually exclusive ditches are each destructive in their own way. The Ditch of Smallness says that people are fundamentally bad and that humanity's greatest spiritual threat is pride. The Ditch of Bigness says the exact opposite: people are fundamentally good, and shame is our greatest danger. Dan Kent presents a third view, a road between the ditches. He shows how the humility Jesus revealed offers the most accurate and freeing view of the self. Whereas shame and arrogance are dysfunction steroids (making our depression darker, our anxiety tighter, our addictions stickier, and so forth), humility, as Jesus teaches it, counteracts shame and pride, thereby subverting two major psychological forces that thwart us.Once we embrace this new way of seeing ourselves--how Jesus sees us--we begin to relate to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us in a way that allows us to overcome a whole host of vices and self-sabotaging behaviors. Furthermore, whereas the ditches both lead to powerlessness and passivity, humility as Jesus teaches it is empowering, fosters proactivity, and serves as a scaffold for true confidence.
ASIN: 1506451926
VSKU: KDV.1506451926.G
Condition: Good