Of course you do. How about a slice… of humble pie? This might be the hardest pie in the world to digest. There is no ego that will not feel threatened and arm up the troops at the sight of a humble pie. It is sour, it burns but, if swallowed despite this, it brings more wisdom, peace and clarity.

Nothing is sugar coated in a humble pie. It is messy and unsavory. We’ve learnt to equate ourselves with stances and opinions on things and when people are getting to know us we’ll try to ease this process by telling them who we (think we) are by sentences such as ” I’m person who…”, “I’m not those people who…”. The ego needs to think of itself as separate, divide the world into friends and foes to be able to create the simulation you refer to as “I”. The older we get, and the more “conclusions” we make about the world and this “I” the more rigid we become and it gets harder to change, shift, bend and adapt to reality by learning new things. Kids don’t consider themselves superior to anyone. They are humble in their exuberance for life and believe they are here to learn about (and from) everything they encounter. And even when they try your patience by being difficult, it’s just an experiment to see how far they can push grownups before they snap. They are not misbehaving out of meanness but curiosity. If you try and teach a kid something new it will (presuming they are interested in this and it is adjusted to their age and attentions span) soak up all you have to say, ask questions and become the best model for learning you’ve ever seen. It will want to try it out itself, and ask for guidance if it fails, with no shame for having failed or fear of looking ridiculous for trying again.

As we grow up, somewhere along the way we pick up the absurd notion that saying you don’t know something, can’t do it or don’t understand is a bad thing. As the ego grows the fear of showing weakness grows as well. So we stumble around and fall far more that necessary (some failure is unavoidable) because we are too proud and set in our way to ask for help. Don’t fear being humbled and using humility as a tool to learn. Be perfectly willing to let go of what you think you know, even for a moment, and entertain the thought that it might be possible that the person speaking now knows more than you do, has some skills and information you don’t. Listen, sit by their feet and listen to what they have to say first and keep from closing off into arrogance or just dismissing it before you her the whole thing. Things you don’t know vastly outnumber the things you do know, and opportunity to learn will present itself hundreds times a day. Some you will seek, some will find you, some you’ll encounter out of necessity because you keep repeating the same mistakes.

Grab a knife and cut yourself a piece of humble pie. The first unpleasant taste is only the ego fighting to not be challenged. Once you swallow, the aftertaste goes away quite quickly. No one knows everything but we know more together than alone. An old Africa proverb says “If you want to go fast, go alone: if you want to go far, go together.”