NAVIGATING THE COMPLEX LANDSCAPE OF EGO

I’ve been having an interesting conversation with myself recently about the role my ego plays in how I navigate life. 

One of the challenges that one naturally faces in life is aging. I’m getting on in years, and it’s sometimes hard for me to maintain enthusiasm and optimism, knowing that there is decline and perhaps some suffering ahead of me. Maybe not for some years yet, but it’s out there, lurking.  

What I have realized is that my ego plays an enormous role in how I deal with it. It’s not a helpful role.

My ego tells me all the time how important it is for me to remain vital, relevant, and in control.

My intellect tells me that, of course, all of these things – vitality, relevance, control – are ephemeral.

My ego tells me that this decline is a tragedy – an early death of sorts. My ego creates the suffering of loss before the loss actually occurs. My ego creates stress and disappointment, and it keeps me out of the moment. 

When I ask my ego to step aside, other possibilities present themselves. Possibilities of exploration, of experience, of acceptance, and gratitude.

In my troubled moments I’m trying to learn to put my ego aside, and when I do I feel an immediate release from the burdens of my selfhood and my desire to make everything in the world right, and on my terms.

I am learning, at long last, that there are things I must simply accept. Life is not a contest to see how successful I can be or how much I can fashion my life into the exact thing that my ego wants it to be.

In 2024 I want to ask my ego to let me live unburdened by its unreasonable and selfish expectations.