Ego

We all fight a battle.

The internal battle of the ego.

The ego is a guest of the house of more. The more we get, the happier we'll be.

The ego is compelling. It provides you pictures of what it would be like to have more money, more status, more recognition.

It can be boiled down to extrinsic vs intrinsic motivations.

The ego loves the extrinsic, they're like sugar rushes. We feel great for a moment before finding ourselves asking what's next?

Whilst, the humble-self whispers to what avail? What is the real motivation? What are you really striving for?

Those are the hard questions we have to confront. Until we're clear on them, the ego feeds off the uncertainty.

To begin answering them, identify what the ego wants you to pursue. Give it a moment to voice their opinion.

Then ask why? Why does it want that? And once they've answered once, ask again, why? And then a third time. And a fourth. And finally a fifth. By the time you've done this your ego would have disappeared like a shadow caught with the lights on.

What you'll find is that what the ego was really doing is covering an insecurity that you have. It was doing you a favour, protecting you. It's really a layer of armour for those who havn't managed to create their own.

Now the ego is sitting quietly to the side, you can begin to create your own armour.

Explore the reasons and the cause of the fifth why.

Most find that they connect with passions they have, reasons for being. Or to cover a previous life experience where they felt inadequate with who they were.

The irony of the pursuit is whatever you identify is taking you away from doing exactly that.

The pursuit of more money to one day pursue passions is taking time from pursuing those passions.

The pursuit of status so that you never experience shame again is making you relive that shame.

Once you connect with your why's, they become the source of your meaning. Before that your ego feasts on your fear.

What’s feeding your ego?

To receive a weekly newsletter on:

One thing I’ve learnt to ponder between sips of your iced oat latte.

One essay from me, that on average I promise will be slightly above average.

One entertaining failure from my week.