Rather than kill your ego, you should befriend it. Just accept it to go beyond it. Feel the fear, watch the thoughts, and you can remind yourself “I’m still here.” You’re still here, always, alive as an animating presence beyond your temporary form. Note that from your ego’s viewpoint you’re not here, so long as you’re not identified with the thought-emotions that you experience. Discomforting thoughts and feelings are often there to nudge you into some kind of action. They may be there to remind you again and again to answer that perennial question “what really matters?” Once you have that sorted out, the mind may be less inclined to disturb you with things that aren’t that important, especially at 3am when you want to be asleep.
According to Lao Tzu, and as appearing in the book classic Tao Te Ching, all your problems are due to thinking. What matters is awakening to radical self-acceptance and the end of a dissatisfied ego as you place “trust in the universe.” No more running, no more looking for a sense of self in fleeting things.
And, as we are emphasizing in this seven part series, awaken and achieve your authentic dreams from that awakened state. It would be nice to have a spontaneous awakening that guaranteed authentic pursuits thereafter. Given that you’re reading this, and perhaps the series, you’re probably on the path to awakening. Some trial and error is inevitable as you endeavor to make the right choices about goals and activities going forward. Provided that you stay on the path, with good intentions, you needn’t be concerned about the opinions of others unless it makes good sense to do so.
Sense your fear when it arises: where is it in the body, is it moving? Say hello to your fear – “aha, there you go again!” This fear, and other habit energies that arise in us, are related to our karma, conditioning, and emotional baggage as we react or respond to situations arising. It helps to recondition your mind with curiosity, gratitude, generosity, compassion, kindness and equanimity when faced with difficult situations. Moreover, when dealing with people specifically, an attitude of forgiveness, acceptance, calm, empathy and support will help to diffuse situations. In this approach, we understand that all of humanity is conditioned, and individuals are only able to act out in alignment with their present level of consciousness.
Source: Peak Performance!! Awaken & Achieve available on Amazon.
In Part 5 of this series we will look at how to deal with a “misbehaving ego.”