061: Keeping Your Ego in CHECK!

We all have an ego that’s made up of specific ideas about our true-self, personality, talents, and skills. Your ego, while an essential component of your identity, if LEFT UNCHECKED, can cause you to act immorally, unethically, and generally out of character. Ego is an aspirational process . . . we aim to achieve a particular image of ourselves that’s displayed to the world, and we succeed or fail. Depending on how EGO driven you are, anything less than perfection, any degree of shortcoming, can be absolutely CRUSHING on our morale and self-esteem.  Those who are motivated by EGO need instant gratification, positive outcomes, and certainty to determine their self-worth and happiness. Egotistical individuals develop their identity in comparison to others.  Quote: When any man is more stupidly vain and outrageously egotistic than his fellows, he will hide his hideousness in humanitarianism. – George Moore This naturally begs the question that we’re all too often afraid to investigate: Are your ambitions fueled by THE GOOD, or by YOUR EGO?! Be insanely critical of yourself when answering this question, be relentlessly honest with yourself here. MORE SPECIFICALLY: Are you trying to prove you’re better than someone else? Do you understand and recognize the motivation behind your actions? If someone were to achieve their goals, which were like yours, would you have feelings of resent and jealousy, or would you be happy for that person? Egocentric individuals react in line with the former.  Seeking approval over truthfully enjoying the journey is a tell-tale sign of being led by your ego. Take a moment to pause and self-reflect. Think about what you’re doing in life, and more importantly, why you’re doing it. If WHY you’re doing it is based on egocentric ideals, AKA status, social approval, money, etc., the truth is, it’s NEVER going to be enough. There’s no sense in seeking to crush and destroy your ego entirely, I’m not even sure that’s possible, just don’t let your ego become your central focus and source of inspiration. Compared to being ego driven, we will never come close to feeling as ALIVE as we do when driven by THE GOOD, by a HIGHER PURPOSE, by UPLIFTING THOSE IN NEED and NURTURING our TRUEST SELVES.  https://mruddo.com