Properly Understanding, Utilising & Living With Your Ego

Ego trigger alert for those of you who think of the Ego as something bad or believe you don’t have an Ego.

The EGO is the most misunderstood, overlooked and stereotyped part of who we are, especially within the 'spiritual' community.

The word EGO in Latin means "I" and that is exactly what the Ego is. It's our sense of self, be that good, bad, ugly, or the best thing since sliced bread.

Simply put, you are ego, as without an egoic self you would have no sense of self...

The ego is a collection of all your parts and creates your view of who you are and what experiences you are able or deserving of experiencing. This includes your positive attributes as well as your perceived flaws.

A healthy Ego is essential to be able to enjoy a happy life..

There are two opposite ends to the spectrum of the Ego, and a well-balanced sense of yourself, 'Ego', is key to a well-balanced, happy, healthy and meaningful life.

The two distortions constantly threatening your Ego are…

The inflated ego, which believes it’s shit doesn’t smell, that it’s always someone else’s fault, that it’s worth is dependant on what you do, own and achieve. People who have an inflated ego believe they are the labels of success, beauty, or wealth, as opposed to having success, beauty or wealth.  

Often people with an inflated ego have a lot of confidence and do well in the material world, but they feel hollow inside and have placed all of their value and sense of self outside of themselves.

And at the other end of the spectrum is the alienated Ego, which is a total loss of a sense of self-worth, value, ability etc. At this end of the Egoic ‘I’ viewpoint, a person will believe they are worthless, that they have no value, meaning, or purpose, and that life is happening to them, never for them.

Often people with an Alienated Ego will suffer from mental health issues such as depression.

The truth is, you are not the things you experience or own and real sence of value or worth can’t ever truly be found outside of yourself. But the tricky EGO can get confused at times and if left unchecked, or out of conscious awareness, the Ego can take control of your life and convince you that you are Rich/Poor ‘I rich/poor’, instead of simply experiencing being rich/poor, ‘I experiencing’.

Let’s take a look at depression for a moment. The first step towards moving past depression is to stop telling yourself, ‘I am depressed’ and instead say ‘I am experiencing a state of depression’. The ego will do all it can to protect itself, your ‘I’ sense of self, even if that ‘I’ is depression. But a state it/you are experiencing isn’t attached to a sense of self, so can therefore be let go of, changed, or moved past with much more ease.

FYI, at the two most extreme ends of the Ego spectrium are the Donald Trump, narcissistic, I am better than everyone else so I can do what I want and treat everyone however I want because they are less than me ‘I’...

And the ‘I’ only do love and light brigade, who believe they have no ego, or that they have killed it and are now enlightened, which also creates a superiority complex in that persons ‘I’ Ego sense of self. This results in an alternative style of the same Ego ‘I’ mask. The Ego mask of ‘I can’t do any wrong and I am better than everyone else.

So, what end of the EGO spectrum are you on, or have you found a balance betwen who you truly are and who you beleive yourself to be, experienceing life as a well rounded and complete being?

This is why in the work I guide my clients through we focus on the whole self. The Mind, the Body, the Soul, and the Ego which holds them all together as your single sense of self, ‘I’.

Kaine Stromberg,

Evolving Mind, Body, Soul, & Ego!