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Aug 18
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Have you ever heard the saying that “Prosperity is your natural state?” If this is true, why are so many people suffering, angry, frustrated, miserable, and unhappy with life? I believe this is occurring because of their egos are working overtime to keep them stuck in their self-imposed boxes (realities).
The ego is our conscious identity of who we think we are, but this identity is only an illusion. (See my article: “Is Your Ego Your Master?” for a more detailed explanation of the ego). Although the ego is not who we really are, it is controlling the lives of most people.
Think about it! How many times in your life have you set goals to change the results you experience in your life such as becoming wealthy, losing weight, or improving your relationships and were unsuccessful? You were not successful because your ego is sabotaging your intentions. The ego perceives its main job is to ensure your survival, but this is a fallacy. The ego is not concerned with your survival, but its own, and it protects itself by controlling you from changing your self-imposed box.
Although the ego has no power of its own, it is has a bundle of deceptive traps at its disposal to ensure that it remain in control of your life. When you are aware of these ego traps, it will be easier for you to distinguish your ego from the yourself (the True you), and it will be easier for you to surrender your yourself from the illusion of the ego and enjoy a prosperous life.
In this 3 part article, I will discuss the traps the ego uses to keep most people from enjoying the abundance of the Universe and living a life of peace, joy, and happiness.
1. The ego always prophesies negative futures
The Ego does not like change and uncertainty because they represent a threat to its survival. The ego always wants what is safe, secure and predictable, but life was not set up to be this way. When confronted with change or uncertainty, your ego compare the present moment to what happened to you in your past and predicts a negative future to protect you from pain such as embarrassment, guilt, shame, etc. It accomplishes this by causing you to experience fear.
Fear is one of the ego’s most powerful tactics it uses to maintain control over us. Fear is our prison, and it keeps most people trapped in a limited reality of struggle and unhappiness. If you use your Will and choose to change your reality, your ego will begin to generate resistance in the form of fear. All fear is, in essence, fear of the future and the unknown. Most people are afraid of the things that have not yet happened, but which if they did might bring them pain, suffering or some other discomfort. Since the ego likes to be in control, and it does not know the future, it prophesies what you may experience, and these prophecies are always negative in nature.
Action Item:
lf you experience fear, recognize that you are being controlled by your ego, and you are not aligned with Source Energy (God). Furthermore, your present thoughts are focused on what if (what can go wrong). Instead of focusing on what you don’t want, change your thoughts to what you want, and know that you are being guided by God. Just Let Go, and Let God (trust in the divine power of God). When you really DO this, your fear will dissipate.
2. The ego always want more
The ego continually bombards us with the idea that we must have more in order to be happy. The ego always wants more possessions, whether it is material goods such a new car, a new job or new clothes, or intrinsic possessions such as fame, status or power. It believes that having stuff is the key to survival, but its satisfaction in having is a relatively shallow and short-lived one.
Moreover, the ego equates having with BEing; I have; therefore, I am. The more I have, the more I am. It thinks that with success, suddenly we will experience special privileges which ultimately mean that it is special. Concealed within wanting more remains a deep-seated sense of dissatisfaction, of incompleteness, of “not enough.” “I don’t have enough yet,” by which the ego really means, “I am not enough yet.”
Action Item:
When you have a desire for something such a new house or car, determine the real meaning behind the desire. To accomplish this, ask yourself ” what would it mean if I got it?” For example, if you desired a new job, ask, what would that mean?
You may say, “I’ll have more money.”
Again, ask yourself, “what would that mean?” Continue doing this until you find the true reason why you really want it. If the desire is not based on enhancing your ego status, and it comes from your heart, go for it. If your desire exists to bolster your ego, release the desire.
3. The ego has to be right all the time
The ego is very opinionated. In fact, our egos have an opinion on everything. Whether the subject is war, abortion, taxes, religion, politics, etc, the ego believes it is right. Every ego confuses opinions with facts, and it always believes its viewpoints are right, but being right is identification with a mental position - a perspective, an opinion, a judgment, or a story.
Being right is how the ego thinks it will become happy. For you to be right, you need someone else to be wrong, and the ego loves to make others wrong in order to be right. In other words, you need to make others wrong in order to get a stronger sense of who you are, and it give you a sense of superiority which the ego craves.
“We are right and they are wrong” is particularly deeply entrenched in politics and those parts of the world where conflict between two nations, races, religions, or ideologies is longstanding. Both sides of the conflict are equally identified with their own perspective, and each side believe themselves to be in possession of the truth. Both regard themselves as victims and the other as evil and wrong. However, both sides are equally incapable of seeing that another perspective may exist and also be valid.
Action Item:
If you find yourself in a debate with another person and you disagree with the other person’s position, ask yourself if your position is a fact or opinion. For example, if you discussing abortion and your position is that it is wrong, ask yourself is it an opinion or a fact. If you believe it is a fact, ask yourself where did you learn it. Believe it or not, most things you believe are just opinions that someone made up, and you accepted it as being right. If it is an opinion, release it, stop the debate, and choose peace.
Well, these are just three of the ego traps that cause people to suffer. If you become aware of them and use the action items I provided, you will experience a shift that will change your reality.
Namaste,
RC
