How do you get rid of selfishness in yourself?

Answer 1

seek a teacher
learn to meditate
become empty
destroy the ego
surrender to God
follow the teacher
the teacher is God

Answer 2

Wow, tough thing to do. But, if you really want to, it can be done. First thing that you have to do is look at what things that you have done that is selfish. You can't change that, but, you can use them as examples in the future. Then, what you need to do from now on is to ask your self some questions.

1) Why am I doing this?
2) Who is going to benefit from what I do?
3) What am I going to get out of this if I do it?

You probably already recognize these questions, or at least you should, because these are the ones that you already ask yourself. If the answer to the these questions has anything to do with you, then it is being selfish. Reassess the situation and your part and try to come up with an answer that doesn't involve you. And make sure when you do something, that it doesn't neccessarily benefit you. Although, being selfish once in a while is ok. You can't always do for others and never do for you. Otherwise, people will expect it all the time and you will never have time for yourself, and that can be bad.

If you have a very close friend, discuss things before you do anything with him/her. A true friend will tell you if you are being selfish. It's a hard trait to change, but with perserverence you can.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Hi, to do this we must practice self denial and charity each day to enable ourselves to overcome our selfish ego`s.
it is a discipline that all holy men and women have practiced throughout their lives and it is very pleasing to God.
it is not easy to overcome the ego but it is very possible if we take the right attitude and put others first instead of seeking first place ourselves.
a little rule goes like this,
God is first,,
family second,
friends are third,
I am last.
there is a real sense of closeness to God when we turn from selfishness and become humble servants and it is far from being weak as there is an inner strength that comes with humility.

Answer 4

I should be able to answer this really good, since I have so much practice at learning this lesson over and over and over...

How you do it is admit to God it is a sin you are committing, and you are disgusted by it and want to view it the same way He does. Ask Him to cleanse you of it. Think of how selfless Jesus was, when He gave his life for us.

Then when a situation comes up, try to do what would serve the other person and make them content. Put yourself on the back burner. Don't do it because the other person deserves it, do it because God wants you to be like Jesus Christ, so YOU will be happy.

Try that.
I will too. Again.

Answer 5

Get into the habit of giving. Nothing that you have belongs to you. If you think that it does, then pride is operating in your life. Pride is the source of all sin. Learn to let go of things and stop accumulating things. Go through your house or apartment and clean it out. Make giving a regular habit. You will find yourself a much happier person and people will more readily respond to you with favor. Everyone loves a giver, but no one likes a stingy person.

Answer 6

Jesus says, ""Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3). What did He mean? Simply this: We must be humble in our spirits. If you put the word "humble" in place of the word "poor," you will understand what He meant.

In other words, when we come to God, we must realize our own sin and our spiritual emptiness and poverty. We must not be self-satisfied or proud in our hearts, thinking we don't really need God. If we are, God cannot bless us. The Bible says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6).
God hears every prayer we make when we come to Him in Jesus' name—even the self-centered ones and the ones that are outside His will. The psalmist declared, "O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come" (Psalm 65:2).

But that doesn't mean He always answers those kinds of prayers—and we ought to be thankful for that! How many times have you prayed for something selfish, and only later realized how good it was that you didn't get it? You see, God loves us, and He knows what is best for us. That's why He sometimes answers our prayers with a "No"—and when He does, it is because He loves us too much to give us everything we want.

How can you avoid selfish prayers? First, remember that it isn't always wrong to pray for ourselves. God wants us to bring our needs to Him, and to rely on Him and not just ourselves. The Bible says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Philippians 4:6).

Then include praise and thanksgiving as a regular part of your prayers. In other words, focus on God in your prayers, and not just on yourself. Do you thank Him for His love, and do you praise Him for His glory? Do you thank Him also for all the good things He gives you? The Bible says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise" (Psalm 100:4).
There is 2 ways to hold onto our possessions: with closed hand or open hand. Hold onto all that God has given you with an open hand. Then when you lose something, break something, have something taken from you, or God tells you to give something to someone, you won't be upset because you had already given up all your possessions when you decided to hold them with an open hand.

Answer 7

surrender luxeries, stop being judgemental (tough to do, but it works,) love others, help others (actively go out and help those less fortunate.)

However, I think you will always have some selfishness (just my belief) and that it is not a bad thing, as long as you also love others. We live inside ourselves, and so will never truly BE anyone else more than we are ourselves, though we can still empathise.

Answer 8

Honestly, give things up.

This is from the bible and is a little different but you can apply it to yourself easily.

Mk. 10:17-27, Lk. 18:18-27, Matt. 19:16-26.

In this scene, a wealthy young man asks Jesus how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus tells him to sell everything and give it to the poor and then to "you will have riches in heaven, come, follow me." When the rich young man refuses, Jesus tells his disciples that it is harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

I applied that to my selfishness and started giving away instead of keeping for myself.

Answer 9

That is a very good question. I can only answer you from a christian perspective, so I hope it helps you as it helped me.

For starters, we need to have faith in Christ's words and His divne work.
The Lord Christ clearly said "You can achieve nothing without me"...and St Paul reiterates this by saying "I can achieve all things through Christ who strengthens me"...so you must have faith that it is doable, only Through the source of all goodness, the Lord Christ Himself "Seek & you shall find...ask, and it shall be given unto you."

Secondly, you need to view selfishness and sin in different light. Sins such selfishness and bad habits are deaply engraved in our way of life as a result of our practices. So deaply engraved, in fact, that we require a sort of recreation in order to bring us back to the original pure state that we were originally created in. This is achieved through both Baptism & confession and repentance...and when we repent, we must constantly ask as David the Prophet taught us in his psalm 51 "Create a clean heart in me O God, and restore you Spirit within me"
Thus, If we ask God to recreate our habits and support us on our journey, by the recreational Grace of the Holy Spirit, you will achieve all things through Christ who strengthens you.

Now that you have known what God can do with you, you need to take the necessary steps...you need to replace those old selfish habits and thoughts with new selfless habits.
Learn to give the poor and needy (either in the form of tithing or donations to charities or even helping a friend in need, ONLY because you want to break these habits)...and as you do these lovely acts of selflessness, always ask God to help you do so with joy, and ask him to recreate your selfish heart to one the fits with selfless service and love. And in no time, you will automatically do these things not because you are training to do so, but because you can no longer live without doing it...giving and love slowly becomes part of your nature and it is the only thing that makes you happy, because it is the way we are designed to be.

I know this sounds a bit overwhelming...but believe me, all it takes is for you to take the first few steps by God's strength, and see what he will do. I promise (ask a man of experience).

May God bless you my friend, and grant you all joy and peace that comes through the lovely blessings of selfless Love, that is Only attainable from Him, the source of all love.

Answer 10

that is very hard,you will need a hindu teacher