Why Your Ego Is Holding You Back, And What To Do About It

“When the intellect is no longer contradicted by our emotional reactions, by unconscious doubts and fears, then the word of our mouth will immediately bear fruit.” Ernest Holmes

Our ego is at work all the time, without us even noticing.

So if something is this prevalent in our lives is it possible to remove it from our lives completely?

Is that even necessary? When I think about ego it makes me think of someone loud and self-absorbed, someone who will do whatever it takes to be better than others. Although this may be an extreme version of out of control ego, our egos pop up and affect our lives in many smaller ways every day.

Getting upset or offended by things people say is usually because they said or did something that hurt our egos. Thinking we are better than other people, or even comparing ourselves to others is based on ego.

So why is it so bad, and why should we work to remove it from our lives?

The only thing that is real is the present moment.

The more we identify with our ego the more removed we become from the present moment. Our ego can get inflated and make us think we are better at some things than some people or we’re just better than them in general.

Our egos can also become bruised by unfavorable outcomes or the words and actions of others. Our egos can build us up or tear us down while the reality of the situation is somewhere in-between.

How do we go about removing our ego, is it even possible?

As of yet, I haven’t had much luck with this myself. I still catch myself getting upset or depressed when people say mean, rude things. Once I realize what I’m doing and become conscious of it, I begin to think about it.

Sometimes I’ll even go so far as to write about it just to explore the idea in more detail.

After thinking about why I’m upset, I realize the root of the problem is always based on my insecurities.

And that insecurity is thanks to my ego.

When it comes to the other side of the coin, and my ego starts to build me up and make me think I’m the man, I get a reality check.

It could be something that someone says or does that rains on my parade. Or it could be something as simple as me thinking I’m attractive while having something hanging out of my nose.

These things can be embarrassing because they are an attack on our ego. I use this as a learning experience, a chance for me to stop and think, and realize I was letting my ego take control.

I still don’t have an answer on how to remove our egos. However, by becoming aware of when we are being controlled by our ego and by being conscious of it, we can detach from it.

This detachment allows us to view the situation closer to reality. As if we are a third party, allowing us to remove our ego temporarily.

Another way to reduce ego’s grip on us is to not take things so seriously.

This goes back to the idea that most things don’t matter, most of the time we can choose when to get offended.

The more we let ego control us, the easier it is to get upset and offended. By realizing this, our ego losses its power.

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