I was recently teaching an on-line class on Muuyu Yoga and because the platform is interactive, I had the opportunity to engage my students.
I share a practice with students all around the world. I love to see what’s going on outside my own backyard.
I asked one of my students what she did for a living and she told me she worked for a huge fashion house in the Los Angeles area. I was intrigued. It seemed so posh and luxurious. Images of the Devil Wears Prada swam through my consciousness. How amazing would that job be? And then she said something funny…”I work with a lot of luxury attitudes,” and I laughed. I can only imagine what that means. The good thing is she practices yoga and uses her practice to keep her grounded when she butts up against a “luxury attitude.”
It made me think about my own life and other places I see luxury attitudes. I call luxury attitudes people who have a huge “sense of entitlement.” I think that the increase in people thinking this way, will be the downfall of our culture.
What is a sense of entitlement? What do you think you are entitled too?
The urban dictionary states, and I quote, that a sense of entitlement is:
The idea that one has a right to be given something which others believe should be obtained through effort.
Politicians cut welfare and raise taxes but their own sense of entitlement leads them to award themselves huge pay increases and enormous pensions for a few years’ work.
Wow what a great definition. It lays it out, doesn’t it?
We are all guilty of having a sense of entitlement, now and again. The biggest one being “Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness.” It’s the great American motto.
In the pursuit of this we trample over everyone in our path. People’s sense of entitlement creates unrealistic expectations of what life is and what they should get out of life. Let us not forget the others around us want many of the same things. In your desire to be happy you don’t get to step all over others.
You are not entitled to:
- Take advantage of others and steal from the poor, or anyone for that matter. We all do not come into the world with the same opportunities. We just don’t. Where you are born, and who you are born to, plays a huge role in where you end up in this life. It’s not to say that we cannot overcome our stations or situations in life, but know we are in service to each other. Always give back. Help someone if you can. Do it because it’s the right thing to do.
“We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our auto mobiles, rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to humanity.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
- Judge others—you have no idea what their people’s circumstances are. Compassion goes a long way to saving the world.
- Force your opinions on others. We are not all entitled to your opinion.
- To be brutally honest. I have a hard time with this one. Be honest but not brutal. If you are angry or disappointed about something, you can be honest and compassionate with sharing your feelings. Being brutally honest never serves anyone. It only creates hurt and destroys relationships. Just be honest without being brutal.
- To omit facts for your own gain. Be transparent and honest. It gives you integrity.
- To exclude people based on gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, socio-economical factors, religious beliefs or disabilities—that’s just plain bullsh*t.
- Be self-righteous
- Hurt people
Truth be told no one is entitled to anything—really. You can be born into privilege, you can earn distinction, we can work hard, be kind to others and live with integrity. We can speak up about injustice and we can change the world in changing our ways. It starts with remembering we are all equal in the eyes of the universe. We are together in this journey, why not act that way.
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Ed: Sara Crolick
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