Having An Awareness Of Being Great

Well, the word great is subjective. To me some one who can effortlessly do angiograms may be great whereas to some one else, a sahm cooking exotic dishes like a chef, may be great. We mostly conclude our greatness based on personal goals we have set for ourselves, and how well we achieve it. Considering oneself great, professionally, could act as a boost and motivate them further, but dwelling too much on personal greatness could be detrimental. Our greatness also lies in realising this, and acting accordingly.
Intriguing thread

 

That's the whole point!!
An sahm can presume her cooking talents to be too good and hence consider herself great. As in, I am a great cook. She does this by comparing herself with other home cooks she knows.
As I said it's all subjective.

 

@ Rihana....My opinion is, good to have the awareness of their greatness for they can definitely be happy, keep away from depression and of course it is a boost in itself for healthy living and personal progress.
Common Human nature is .. not to openly admit to other mortals greatness . So proclaiming it is not a very wise thing.
Yes, it can be a milestone only if it is well set keeping in mind the strengths and weakness of that person.
Muhammad Ali's quote fits him truly.
Hope sounding sensible!!!

 

@Rihana,

You did mention that greatness in this thread means that something others will acknowledge right? That becomes very subjective like @coffecups points out. But I am assuming that is not what you are trying to understand. That said, I do want to share something here -

I do not know anyone with that kind of greatness and honestly do not have an opinion on anyone who has that point of view about themselves or others but I do know one person who thinks he is 'extraordinary' and would like help everyone else he comes across find their own extra ordinariness! Initially I was surprised and as I watched him and got to know him better, more specifically as I saw my kids come out of his classroom with a feeling of "The world is a canvas (more like a collaborative painting) and they can leave their imprint on it and that it will matter," I understood what he meant. And even after a year or so, the kids come out with a feeling of "Ah! That is the best thing that has happened to me!" That class I mean! I am amazed and I know now that this man was not speaking from an egoistic point of view at all! Seems that having that awareness of extra ordinariness does help others, don't know about greatness.

Greatness seems to be an afterthought, most of the times! Not sure though. I will leave Ali saying that out, for I am sure there is none like him and he will always be looked upto by future generations! After watching the movie, "The man who knew infinity" my DS came out and said "Amma do you know very few Mathematicians get mentioned in the books of History (he means Math history, not that you didn't know ) Anyways, your thread led me to google on greatness quotes and this comes closest to what my DS was trying to convey I think "No man is truly great who is great only in his lifetime. The test of greatness is the page of history." William Hazlitt

Did I veer you off? Didn't mean to ?

Now, if I write more it will begin to feel like one of my looonggg snippets !

 

Rihana, just stopped by to say hi. Nice thread. Ali was greatest and was synonym to boxing. Probably greatness applies more in sport than in any other aspect of life. We hear about greatest batsman, greatest soccer player etc. In real life, I don't know any one who claimed to be great or greatness was thrust upon them. At the same time, I have never felt great about anything I do or have done.

 

M. Ali was undefeatable as a champion and outside the ring his larger than life image was inspirational to many, especially to black people. His humbleness and principles in life only elevated his greatness, though by his quote 'I'm the greatest' he only meant his boxing abilities. For rest of mortals like us, greatness can be living a life we wanted, fulfilling our intended goals, being successful and contributing to the society in a positive way. Being aware of our greatness is a good thing, taking pride in what we do can be motivating to achieve more milestones, as long as we know the line, after which it is merely boasting or feeding our egos.

 

Rihana, I understand now what you are talking about. "Great" I think is more of a US jargon. Typically we Indians settle with "Nice" or "Amazing" or "(very) good" or "Awesome", or "Like" or "Superb" etc. We hardly call anyone Great. While in US, every thing is just great. I go to only one parlor (home based) and she does my eyebrows. I haven't tried others but for me it is just that I like her but I can't say she is great. Same with my personal physician.