A friend offered me a piece of good advice this morning. As typical for me, I actually felt bad when I first heard the advice thinking why didn't I know that before--how could I be blind to this act? Yet, I knew it was good advice and I thanked her for it. My thank you included a hint of defensiveness. I find it difficult to accept when someone sees one of my flaws before I do--I hate unkowingly doing the wrong thing. Yet, as my friend explained the situation to me, she offered a perspective I had not thought about--details I didn't think about. Her analysis made total sense as did her observations. This isn't the first time this friend as offered good advice like this.
Later I realized that the fact she knew I was seeking advice in a paricular arena was because I made myelf vulnerable by sharing my questions, confusion, and angst about the situation, and she was clearly tryng to make sense of the quandry and help me out.
The ability to hear, take, and respond to good advice requires humility--to take this advice we must admit to ourselves that we, like every other human on Earth, is imperfect, and when we're willing to take good advice, that makes us stronger and better.
There's probably a good mindshift that can occur to understand this situation better, but for now, I'll simply accept that it's better to accept good advice than to let your pride get in the way.