The key to a happy life lies in letting go of a false sense of self-importance. (Source: Pixabay)Sadia Badeie is a YouTuber who talks about the way in which one can live a well-balanced life. In a video titled ‘Letting go of our EGO’, she talks about the presence of it, and how letting go can lead to a more fulfilling and content life. For this video, she takes inspiration and information from Eckhart Tolle’s book titled A New Earth.
Explaining the meaning of the ego, she says, “It’s a mental construction that we’ve created of ourselves so it’s our self-image and it’s artificial. The more we identify with these things as being real, the more the ego creates emotional drama in our lives.”
The ego has distinct characteristics, and she elaborates: “There’s a few aspects of the ego that are really important to point out. For one, the ego loves to identify with things that enhance its sense of self-worth… The ego also loves to compare. Comparing our positive attributes to someone else’s negative attributes, or the other way around… The ego loves to attach itself to labels, because labels enforce that sense of self… Complaining is another aspect of the ego, and also helps to strengthen it. Whether we’re just complaining silently to ourselves, mentally, or when we vocalise it and complain out loud.”
She then goes on to explain the ways through which one can let go of ego. She says that the key to transcending ego is to simply become aware of it. “As soon as we become aware of the thoughts, the attachments, the labels, the comparing, the complaining, we are no longer the thoughts. We’re now the awareness, the person observing the thoughts. The thoughts are just thoughts, the feelings are just feelings, but they’re not us. We’re not identified with it and so awareness of the ego is the key to transcending it,” she says.
“Let’s go over some ways that we can reduce its presence in our lives,” she continues. “For one, being more open and honest… Another thing that we can do is to find the value in the work that we do; seeing how our work provides value, instead of viewing it as something that we do for recognition, or for fame, or monetary gain… Finally the last place that the ego just really doesn’t exist in our lives is when we’re in the present moment, because the ego can’t be busy thinking about the past or worrying about the future, when it’s in the now.”
For more lifestyle news, follow us: Twitter: lifestyle_ie | Facebook: IE Lifestyle | Instagram: ie_lifestyle