How to Befriend Your Ego
Our Ego is often misunderstood. Many think our Ego is being full of yourself or overly confident.
But the Ego is so much more. The Ego is an undeniable part of each of us formed in our childhood to help us make sense of who we are and the world around us. As we age, the Ego wants to keep us in the familiar and in predictability. This is safety. This is why it is so difficult for us to change our behavior – our Ego is protecting us from what is unknown.
How do you see this positively or negatively affecting you as an adult?
I often describe this as our Ego keeping us small or from our High Self (our evolved self).
Here’s the thing though, it’s not about killing our Ego. We need our Ego in some ways. It’s about befriending the Ego and learning to not act from ego. This is a huge practice of mine and over the last 5 years, I’m getting better and better at it.
Psychology and Spirituality say there are these two very important practices to befriending the Ego; Build awareness and observe when the Ego shows up.
Lets first get clear on some ways the Ego shows up;
Anxiety
Guilt
Doubt
Blame
Attack
Judgment
Excuses
Gossip
Stubbornness
Fixed mindset
And what all of the above are rooted in, fear.
So the first step in befriending the Ego is to become aware that when these things come up for you, that’s Ego, and Ego is separate from you. You are not your Ego. It’s said that even naming your Ego is helpful. My Ego is Jessica.
So catch Ego consciousness without judgment of yourself. Then observe what’s happening for you when you choose to live from Ego.
What would your reaction be? How would you feel? Is that is alignment with how you want your life to be or who you want to be?
Most likely not. Which is why there is always another choice. And now, a conscious choice. After you observe how Ego shows up, you have created space to make a new choice and this is how change happens – yay!
So what do you choose?
I was guided to choose the thing that is hardest for me to do – it’s usually the thing you need to do. But, if you’re not quite there yet in your growth and evolution, that’s okay. Pick a different option that does not stem from Ego Consciousness.
This might take some time to understand and get a hold of. That’s okay. It’s a practice for sure. Peeling back the layers of ourselves that do not serve us and evolving our conscious mind is work but well worth it. If you’d like to learn more about this topic and other topics like it, I’m happy to invite you to learn how you can do that.
My online membership program, Aligning with Alexis, offers weekly wellness workshops that support you in connecting deeper to yourself by providing tools to help you increase self-awareness and your emotional well-being. You can learn more about these workshops and how to join here.