H
HeWillProvide
Guest
how can a person combat vanity?
- Status
T
tessi
Guest
Don’t pay too much attention to the way you look. Try to hide everywhere, try to know nothing so you won’t be flattered. Do the oposite to what you want to do.
K
kage_ar
Guest
Try volunteering at a nearby convent, your local nursing home, at a children’s hospital, in a burn unit, in a Brain Injury rehab facility - this will let you see real beauty from within.
S
sawman
Guest
Dear He will Provide,
Usualy, getting older does the trick, if your problem with vanity hasn’t gotten out of control in your yoot.
Usualy, getting older does the trick, if your problem with vanity hasn’t gotten out of control in your yoot.
L
Lief_Erikson
Guest
I’d recommend initiating a private prayer campaign for humility 
. While simultaneously trying to be aware of whether or not you’re being proud about your prayer campaign for humility .
That’s what I do, anyway. I think it helps.
. While simultaneously trying to be aware of whether or not you’re being proud about your prayer campaign for humility .That’s what I do, anyway. I think it helps.
M
mercygate
Guest
What kind of vanity? What are the symptoms?
B
BeeSweet
Guest
The Litany of Humility
O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930),
Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X
O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930),
Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X
H
HeWillProvide
Guest
Worrying about how you look, checking hair/makeup/mirror, etc. It’s really embarrassing and dumb!
N
Nickkname
Guest
Prayer works. Also looking at yourself in the mirror without all the makeup and repeating to yourself, “I am beautiful and I don’t need that stuff.”
P
puzzleannie
Guest
cultivate the opposing virtue, humility.
J
joeybaggz
Guest
Just to offer a different take. Wanting to present an attractive appearance isn’t necessarily vanity or a lack of humility. After all, it was Jesus who admonished people to comb there hair and present a pleasant appearance when fasting. Jesus validated (to a mild degree) presenting oneself in an attractive manner.
Now, if your preoccupation with looks is an all consuming obsession, try all of the things the other posters have offered.
T
Tantum_ergo
Guest
If you’re over 30. . .cultivate the acquaintanceship of children and teens. 
uch:
As a mother I can testify that every physical, social, emotional, educational, behavioral, etc. flaw that I possess was unerringly noted, commented upon, and either condemned (which was humiliating) or emulated (which was much WORSE) by my children.
Pride though is much harder to get rid of. C. S. Lewis once remarked something to the effect that a person could be vain but the vanity was often more ‘venial’ in nature. . .in attempting to weed out the vanity, though, the person often fell into a more mortal situation due to ‘pride’ in ‘foiling the vanity’. . .winding up worse off.
uch:As a mother I can testify that every physical, social, emotional, educational, behavioral, etc. flaw that I possess was unerringly noted, commented upon, and either condemned (which was humiliating) or emulated (which was much WORSE) by my children.
Pride though is much harder to get rid of. C. S. Lewis once remarked something to the effect that a person could be vain but the vanity was often more ‘venial’ in nature. . .in attempting to weed out the vanity, though, the person often fell into a more mortal situation due to ‘pride’ in ‘foiling the vanity’. . .winding up worse off.
B
BarbaraTherese
Guest
Much truth in this I think, Sawman…says I at a ripe young 63yrs. In my youth I was to my despair dreadfully physically vain and to feed my own vanity…now I have to ensure that I am ok in appearance for my sons … since I totally do not care about appearance at all. As long as I am clean and tidy I am personally at rest.
My remedy would be to strive to overcome vanity but without distress and to always pray to be able to do so; meanwhile acknowledge that you are indeed vain and only God’s Grace will overcome it “why is it I find myself doing the very things I have made up my mind not to do…and what can save me? Nothing but the Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ” (St. Paul). Confession is a great source of many Graces, including Active Grace to overcome sins and imperfections.
Nothing like some continual fault or imperfection to keep one humble! The Lord wastes nothing and the most unwasteful of masters, not even our faults, failings and imperfections - always some good somewhere, somehow.
But I think you may be right, Sawman:thumbsup: …the passing years to mature age often takes care of physical vanity well and truly.
Blessings and regards…Barb
G
Gabrielis
Guest
The Apologist’s Evening Prayer:
From all my lame defeats and oh! much more From all the victories that I seemed to score; From the cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh; From all my proofs of Thy divinity, Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me. Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head. From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee, O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free. Lord of the narrow gate and the needle’s eye, Take from me my trumpery lest I die.
~~C.S. Lewis
This may be an apologist’s prayer, but it could equally apply to any other type of vanity by substituting a few words here and there.
Of course an even more excellent antidote to vanity is, as has already been said by others, humility. And a really effective way of gaining humility is to be humiliated. If one can reach the point where one rejoices in being humiliated, one has perhaps arrived.
I think it was St Ignatius of Loyola who said that the first stage of humility is to prefer death to committing a mortal sin, the second stage is to prefer death to committing a venial sin, and the third is to bear humiliations with joy–I paraphrase, but it’s something like that anyway.
From all my lame defeats and oh! much more From all the victories that I seemed to score; From the cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh; From all my proofs of Thy divinity, Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me. Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head. From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee, O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free. Lord of the narrow gate and the needle’s eye, Take from me my trumpery lest I die.
~~C.S. Lewis
This may be an apologist’s prayer, but it could equally apply to any other type of vanity by substituting a few words here and there.
Of course an even more excellent antidote to vanity is, as has already been said by others, humility. And a really effective way of gaining humility is to be humiliated. If one can reach the point where one rejoices in being humiliated, one has perhaps arrived.
I think it was St Ignatius of Loyola who said that the first stage of humility is to prefer death to committing a mortal sin, the second stage is to prefer death to committing a venial sin, and the third is to bear humiliations with joy–I paraphrase, but it’s something like that anyway.
Code:
"The center of every man's existence is a dream. Death, disease, insanity, are merely material accidents, like a toothache or a twisted ankle. That these brutal forces always besiege and often capture the citadel does not prove that they are the citadel." -- G. K. Chesterton- Status