Day 263/366 days Towards Self-Mastery.
Today Sarah asks us to identify the enemy within, the ego, and fight her to the death. Thank goodness we've learned a bit more about how our psyche works in the last few decades.
Although it is still very common to hear people out there coaching others to subdue their ego, as if the ego has done something terribly wrong, is an imposter, an adversary to be defeated.
Your ego springs from the well of your experiences. The voice of your subconscious protection patterns adopted as adaptive coping strategies to the vagaries of life. The ego has played a very important role and continues.
It will often appear as the mask we wear to hide our cautiousness and insecurities in the face of high expectations and other's judgements.
If we want to change the direction that our ego enables or allows us, I've discovered that making friends with the ego is the fastest and most effective way to make change.
By acknowledging the very important work that the ego has done, by teasing out what was needed then and what is needed now, the ego's directions can be revised.
When you begin to hear the voice of the ego dissuading you from your ambition or encouraging you to alter your course, spend time with her to discover what is really behind those instructions.
Be sure that your ambition is right-sized to your current circumstances. Revisit any long ago difficulties that left your feeling cautions. Separate out what was suited to then and no longer is necessary. Review deep inner beliefs that are passed their use-by date.
Be sure that you're not following someone else's plan with your ambitions and explorations. Make sure that they are yours truly.
This is how you retrain your ego to support you.
366 days Towards Self-Mastery
When I considered my New Year's intentions for 2020 I had just one: To allow my heart to love what it loved...and let it lead me. (If not now, then when?)
I've spent months working on integrating my life. To live life more fully with my home life, my interests, my work, my responsibilities, all coming together, all connected. I want to give each the attention that they desire and need, and still have time and energy for the others. That means living and working from the heart.
As I was clearing out my bookshelf over the Christmas break I discovered Simple Abundance. I set it aside to explore it on New Year's Day as I lazed through another delicious day of nothingness. Sarah, the author, says this book is about living in grace. Living in grace I realised, is about Self-Mastery.
My thirst for understanding the human condition has driven me all my life, and hand-in-hand with self-mastery it has been a life-long goal. And seeing as I love to write, that living in grace is about self-mastery, and I love a bit of a challenge, then if I am truly going to let my heart lead, I really don't have any other choice. So scary as it feels, I'm starting out on a daily mission of leaning into the suggestions of this daybook and making a daily post to keep me accountable. If not now, then when?
I'm Josie. You can find out a little more about me here.
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy: by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
This book is written for the Australian and NZ market because it refers to seasonal changes. It's available on Amazon here if you'd like to follow along.