To most, the word “Ego” evokes the following descriptions: egotistical, narcissistic, self-absorbed or selfish. Actually, ego is responsible for many more human tendencies and emotional characteristics that keep us from living connected, authentic and happy lives.
Did you know that ego causes us to be shy, ashamed, guilty and to self-hate? Ego also causes us to conform and submit in order to be accepted or loved. Ego is an extremely pervasive and a potentially damaging aspect of the human psyche and should be identified and acknowledged as such. By becoming aware of your negative egoistic qualities/tendencies you can begin to understand how the needy ego works and then take action to reduce the negative impact to your life and choices. By developing your self-awareness, you can begin to “see” where the ego has thrown you off course and by seeing; you will begin to equip yourself with the tools you will need to control it. If you can’t (or won’t) see where the problem lies, no tool in the universe will help you fix it. So before you go off and look for help, you will need to first look within, at who you are and only then, will you even know how to go about making the choices that will free you from an unaware existence.
Awareness is the only antidote to negative ego – or – ego that causes misalignment with our true and authentic selves. Awareness is an “awakened state of mind” that shows us what we need to see in order to conduct our lives free of emotional pain and suffering. Pain and suffering are created by our perspectives and what we perceive to be painful. If we choose a different perspective and take responsibility for what that means, we take back our power to create happiness in our lives.
“How do I choose”?
Learn who you are and what that really means. Shed away the mask and the layers you have added to pad yourself from your life. Shed away guilt, victim-hood, martyrdom, self-criticizing and self-doubt. Take claim to who you are and understand that until you know you – you will never truly know what makes you happy. “How do I even begin to get to know me”? This is the million dollar question.
What if you controlled your happiness, success and destiny? Awareness will save you from your self-destructive tendencies and all of the aforementioned issues and free you to be happy and to create fulfillment in your life. Awareness - first – of who you are, is obtained through a concerted effort to get to know yourself and your purpose so you can better understand what and who makes you happy (or unhappy), as well as why you are “here” in the first place. Once you know who you are; accept and embrace that spirit and live self-compassionately and then compassionately for others and for the sake of our world.
Our personal truths are discovered by our choice to take responsibility and become and then remain aware. Your life is your journey. Awareness is your signpost to your best destination. Without awareness we walk around in a functional coma and react to life, most times negatively. Does it sound too scary to take control, to take responsibility? Living a life where your happiness is ever only an accident sounds much scarier to me.
Choose to know and live awake – and you are choosing awareness and all the power it brings to your life. Choose and live aware and compassionately, and you will be stunned at the positive impact you will have on our world.
For more information about Living Life On Purpose – visit me at http://www.ginavitalone.com/
Please check out my new book – 50 Practical Steps to Living Life On Purpose With Purpose, available on my website.
My own journey began like most others with a chaotic and abusive childhood followed by years of searching… for what, I wasn’t sure. For me, the birth of my daughter and then my divorce was the catalyst for me understanding the importance of taking care of and growing myself. After all, I had a precious life I was responsible for ensuring had a warm and loving and nurturing environment. How could I provide all this when I was so… broken?
Nothing happened overnight but seeing my beautiful daughter grow and flourish was easy motivation to keep going, to keep learning… to learn to love myself. I knew deep down that if I wanted her to love herself; I had to love me, first. This was a life lesson that changed who I was from the inside –out. Now that my daughter is grown I am ready to give back. To share what I know and to help others live happy and fulfilled and to know their intrinsic value.