Ego - a short epiphany for an easier life ✧ ₊˚

Katie
Apr 6
3 min read

I am back from a lovely trip to Thailand with brief stops in the Philippines and Hong Kong :) It was beautiful and I loved visiting the temples, eating the flavorful and spicy food, and meeting the gentle people that inhabit the country. I spent quite some time on airplanes - so I read a book that completely changed my way of thinking, and I wanted to share. ♡

At it's core, we experience pain because we let our egos work overtime knowingly and in most cases, unknowingly. We are born knowing all that we would need to know about joy and peace - but as we get to know the world more over time, we begin to lose touch with that love inside of us. Love is our secret to inner peace and healing. Love is all that is real. And so the voice of our ego (an illusory, false sense of self based entirely on the belief in separation from love) becomes more powerful than our innate source - creating fear, anger, depression, worry, guilt, separation, and other forms of emotional torment.

This thought piece originally began as an idea about a different way of approaching decisions - I had begun to ask myself, "is this good for my soul?" The idea is that your approach to life, and before every decision, you would ask yourself this question to create a life that is whole, warm, and full of love by only do things that are good for your soul. And in a way, it is still the same idea. But sometimes our emotions feel too big to even know where to begin and it can feel now is not the right time - halting progress and what we are ultimately dying for: peace.

This is the ego. When you understand what the ego is, you can begin to identify its voice. In that moment, you can gently remind your ego it does not need to work so hard, and reconnect with your real self. Love. The present moment is always what will heal you.

How can you plan a day around nourishing your soul/love? Here are a few examples:

Begin with a morning meditation/prayer (ignore the ego's protests to do anything else first - checking your phone, news...)
Fill your day with love and beauty!! (morning routine with intentionally positive music, read a book or passage from something you always gain peace from, smile at the sky)
Move your body in a way that makes you happy (ride a bike casually, stretch and dance, get out into the sun and breathe the fresh air, ignore ego's press for competition)
Gentle shower - how lucky you are!
Call a friend or family member - someone that makes you laugh and feel good :)
Read more from a book that fills you with warmth and love - I find faith-based and any wholesome reads does the trick in just ten minutes
Joy ride
Slow down and pay attention to the voices in your head while you are out in the world and going about your routine. Practice pausing before acting, replacing loveless thoughts with love-filled thoughts, and form interactions around intentionality & love
Give