What Happens When Your Ego Takes Charge?

After two fairly successful radio shows on Voice America, Into The Mystic, under my belt, I approached my third show as somewhat of an expert. Whenever we think we know it all, or can't learn anything new, The Universe rushes in to show us just how far from the mark we are. I prepared well for my first two shows, writing a script and even practicing what I would say several times. By the time I got to the third show I felt I did not need to prepare as much. I no longer used a script, choosing to wing it instead. Thinking my training and two shows had prepared me for on-air success, I was sure I would knock this show out of the proverbial park.

STIKE ONE

I could not have been more in my head and ego if I had tried. I did not meditate before the show as I usually do to get connected. I was going to take a hit in the groin on this one.

I usually touch base with my guest a day or two before the show, but my guest, Joyce Knapton had gone out of town and was not back till late the night before our show was to be aired live. We did not have the time to do so because of her schedule. Rather than calling her twenty minutes before the show, allowing enough time to walk Joyce through the process of calling in to the show on Skype, she called me. After ten minutes of attempting to get Joyce on Skype, we were no closer to fixing her technical problem. It was clear when we were within a minute of show time that I lacked the technical experience with Skype to be able to teach her what little I knew before we went on air. We began the show 2 minutes late and had to resort to a land line for her portion of the show. Not her fault, but mine. As the show host, it is up to me to make sure my guest is comfortable with the call in proceedure. We should have had a test run earlier in the day.

STRIKE TWO

Lack of preparation is a sign that our ego is in charge. I was beginning to recognize that this was a Divine Smack Down. Panache Desai loves to use these words when referring to what The Divine does to us when we become too lofty on our perch. We can be brought down very rapidly.

Instead of eating a healthy lunch before my show like I usually do, I poured myself a glass of water and sat down to do the show. By the time I got to the middle of the show my blood sugar had dropped dramatically and my brain was not functioning normally. I found myself without the right words to say. At the end of the second break, I thought it was the end of the show and I began to do my closing.

STRIKE THREE

Imagine my surprise and horror when my studio engineer came on at the break to tell me I still had one more 15 minute segment to go! Here I was thinking that my third show would be the best of all! After all I was becoming an expert!

Being able to laugh at ourselves when we are being complete asses is paramount to recovering from a huge public blunder and putting our egos in their rightful place. Look at Ashton Kutcher and his comment about Joe Paterno today. He spoke vehemently about something he had no clue about.An off the cuff egoic remark made him look like a buffoon. He got THE DIVINE SMACK DOWN! His ego had gotten the better of him.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

Don't ever get too cocky about anything. Just when you begin to think you are an expert about a subject THE DIVINE will let you know differently. We are human after all. Humans still have more to learn and being an expert is relative. As long as we have a body, we have more to learn.

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