A couple of weeks ago I decided to take a break from all news and information sources. If I posted anything about black history, I made a promise to myself to not peruse anything else. That was it. I made that a practice for about two weeks. And while, my soul started to heal from all the negative interactions, news stories and the like…I realized quickly that if my voice would be used to help heal what ails us…and as much as I enjoyed that silence, if I were to understand, I would need to be prepared to confront the daily doses of our inhumanity and not shrink from it.
This first day back online and watching the news this morning, I wondered aloud if I had made a mistake. I love my silence. But this I know...the ego is vicious, and manipulative and it tells us we have no responsibility to help people, and that whatever it is…well that is their problem.
As I vacillated between turning the television off and going for a walk with headphones, so that I did not have to watch, my phone rang. When I saw the number…I knew this would be one of those calls that would begin with, “girl did you read on Facebook…” and take on every conspiracy theory known to man.
In that instant my own ego got in the way. Nope. Not in the way you think. This was not about my ego telling me that I was better than…it was my ego telling me I did not want to listen to my friend. It was my ego telling me that, “I didn’t have time.”
Years ago, I read a book about the ego that said it is the most misunderstood aspect of human behavior and unconscious mind.
If we stopped and looked around long enough, we would realize that every action of the ego can destroy even the safe places we lull ourselves into believing exist. Evil does not come in a color, a race, nor a religion...it is in each one of us and makes us believe we are somehow better if we believe what goes on in the world is not our problem.
In an instant, on that call, I realized that my ego was doing exactly what it always does…keeping me from hearing the very thing I needed to hear, to ask the question, “how can I help?”
The ego’s job is to do exactly what it does…tell us we do not want to get involved. We do not want to step in to become an ally or a friend. That by setting ourselves apart as better than…then it really is not our problem.
That is the eternal lie that will destroy this planet.
Humanity is facing a hell of a problem. And misunderstanding the misdirection of the ego is one of them. By attributing power to the ego (which it does not have) that says what ails us is not my problem, makes it easy to blame our inaction and decisions about race, poverty, or any ism not our problem, and creates the world we currently live in.
We all have the capacity to outsmart our ego. How? Well when my friend called today and my ego was johnny on the spot to tell me I did not want to hear her conspiracies…I said, “not today,” and turned the ego thoughts into love and asked her a question… “how can I help?” Explaining I had been off social media and news sites, I simply asked her was there something she specifically wanted me to do. We ended the call with my agreeing to write a letter to a company I have had the chance to work with in the past. In my communications I would lay out my case of how their actions could hurt people – while not intentionally, the narrative should be changed to uplift people.
I found a way today to bring love back to the planet and outsmart my own ego.
One action, one person, one situation at a time. Today cease judgement and love will flow. Today do not look the other way when that homeless person crosses your path (that’s the ego) and love will flow.
Today, that person who has an attitude at the checkout counter bless them (we never know what another is going through), thank them cheerfully and love will flow. Today, that person you have a grievance against forgive them (they may be fighting a battle you cannot understand) and love will flow.
Fairness, understanding, and forgiveness is not an act of weakness, but an act of strength. Overcoming and beating our own egos is a true testament of strength and courage.
I am convinced that cowardice is not a lack of courage but is the desire to conform and go along with what others believe unconditionally.
I once had a professor who explained emotion and ego this way...emotion = energy in motion and the ego= energy gone. I have always remembered that.
Today, choose to walk in love, emotion rather than ego and see how much better the world around you can shift, be in motion and change the course of human history.
Have a great day guy’s...I'm out!
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