Understanding The Ego!

Every human being on the planet has an ego, and we all struggle to coexist with it. Understanding and managing your ego is the most important task you can take on in your personal development. There is not a force on this planet that will have as much influence over you as your own mind.

So let’s start out by talking about why you have an ego. The ego often gets a bad reputation, and it is seen as being narcissistic, self-centered, and maybe even mean. I am here to tell you that your ego is actually much more complicated than this.

Your ego exists, so you can understand your own needs, and distinguish yourself as an individual in the world. And this is a very necessary function. Without your ego, the world would not make sense to you, and you would be completely unable to care for your own needs. That’s why I keep saying you must coexist with the ego. People often believe that you must kill off the ego, but the ego should be appreciated as a necessary part of your mind. It’s there for your survival, and it has an important role in your well-being. We are here to make the ego smaller, and start to learn to connect to our higher self instead. My teacher would say the Ego is much like the bark on a Tree, If the Tree had no bark it would die. If humans had no ego they would die too. The ego is an important part of life, but we must learn to master it, and come more from hearts rather than the ego.

The main problem that the ego poses is that it can hold you back from going for the things you really want in life. Your ego is one of the oldest parts of your mind, and it exists for the sake of your survival. Emotions like fear, envy, shame, and guilt come from the ego. Your ego’s main job is to keep you exactly where you are. It wants to keep you from changing.

There are a lot of ways your ego goes about accomplishing this, including the stereotypical, narcissistic way. Some people have egos that tell them they are already perfect and there is no need to try and grow or expand themselves. There is no need to take risks or reach for something better. Some people have egos that tell them that they are not worthy of anything better, and they shouldn’t try because they might embarrass themselves. In both cases, the ego is performing its function. It is preventing change and thus ensuring survival.

And sometimes your ego might prevent you from doing something that is genuinely going to harm you. It may prevent you from walking down a dark alley on the way home at night, it might prevent you from having another drink because you are getting a little tipsy, or it might prevent you from putting your hand on a hot stove.

The problem that humans face today is that our ego cannot tell the difference between the nerves before a big work presentation or a first date and the fear that may occur from being attacked by a grizzly bear. Our egos want us to run away from every possible danger, but we live in a world where not everything that scares us is actually going to harm us. So as you can see there is some purpose for the ego, but we must learn to recognize when the ego serves us and when the ego does not serve us. We are definitely learning in this lifetime to minimize the ego, and learn to come more from the divine love of the heart chakra.

Through meditation, we learn to bypass the ego and connect to our higher self. You learn to let go of your fears and your limitations.