The "I's" have it; the ego that is.
Whenever your speech is dotted with "I's," especially "I want's" and "I have's," you are most likely not coming from your deeper, authentic self, but from your ego self.
This is what I have been learning through Oprah Winfrey's series of free webcasts with Eckhart Tolle in their lessons/discussions on Tolle's amazing book, A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life's Purpose.
Here's the gist of the book:Most of us are just egomaniacs insanely living our lives in quiet (and often times not so quiet) desperation.
What we are all desperately seeking is attention, or energy, in all of its forms-positive or negative-because any energy, it turns out, is fair game for hungry egos.
Our real essence, our real "I," is the observer in the silent spaces between the tears of joy, the bursts of laughter, the fits of anger, the moments of rage-what most of us call living our daily lives.
Now all of this made perfect sense to me until they got to the chapter in "A New Earth" that explores "Role-Playing: The Many Faces of the Ego.
" One of the first models that the book mentions is a shy person, who, Tolle goes on to say, "is afraid of the attention of others is not free of ego, but has an ambivalent ego that both wants and fears attention from others.
" What? You mean that sweet, little ol' me; compliant, easy to get along with me; no, no, you take the last cookie me is an egomaniac? I always thought that being unassuming, that backing down even when I thought I was right, that being better safe than sorry meant that I had little or no ego.
In fact, in some ways I prided myself on this fact.
As I pondered this, a quote from Nelson Mandela came to mind.
I've always loved it, but now I think I really understand it.
It goes like this: "Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were all born to manifest the glory of God that is within us...
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
" - Nelson Mandela It doesn't matter whether you are playing the role of a victim, the role of a specific career person, the role of a specific group, or you are playing the role of a shrinking violet like me, perhaps now is the time to l'eggo your ego, stop playing any role that feeds it, and start living an authentic life.
Start small by paying attention to the "I's" in your thoughts and words.
Are they coming from the real observer "I" or your energy-hungry ego "I"? Stop putting labels on things, including yourself.
Just be.
Take walks in nature, sit in silence and bask in the present moment.
In my case, the point of putting an end to shyness is not to be able to stand up to someone, but to stand up with everyone as we raise our faces to the sun and know that the same power that shines in it shines in us.
Shine on! Oh, and by the way, that last cookie is mine...
but I'll share it with you.
Copyright 2008 Heart Projects, LLC
Whenever your speech is dotted with "I's," especially "I want's" and "I have's," you are most likely not coming from your deeper, authentic self, but from your ego self.
This is what I have been learning through Oprah Winfrey's series of free webcasts with Eckhart Tolle in their lessons/discussions on Tolle's amazing book, A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life's Purpose.
Here's the gist of the book:Most of us are just egomaniacs insanely living our lives in quiet (and often times not so quiet) desperation.
What we are all desperately seeking is attention, or energy, in all of its forms-positive or negative-because any energy, it turns out, is fair game for hungry egos.
Our real essence, our real "I," is the observer in the silent spaces between the tears of joy, the bursts of laughter, the fits of anger, the moments of rage-what most of us call living our daily lives.
Now all of this made perfect sense to me until they got to the chapter in "A New Earth" that explores "Role-Playing: The Many Faces of the Ego.
" One of the first models that the book mentions is a shy person, who, Tolle goes on to say, "is afraid of the attention of others is not free of ego, but has an ambivalent ego that both wants and fears attention from others.
" What? You mean that sweet, little ol' me; compliant, easy to get along with me; no, no, you take the last cookie me is an egomaniac? I always thought that being unassuming, that backing down even when I thought I was right, that being better safe than sorry meant that I had little or no ego.
In fact, in some ways I prided myself on this fact.
As I pondered this, a quote from Nelson Mandela came to mind.
I've always loved it, but now I think I really understand it.
It goes like this: "Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were all born to manifest the glory of God that is within us...
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
" - Nelson Mandela It doesn't matter whether you are playing the role of a victim, the role of a specific career person, the role of a specific group, or you are playing the role of a shrinking violet like me, perhaps now is the time to l'eggo your ego, stop playing any role that feeds it, and start living an authentic life.
Start small by paying attention to the "I's" in your thoughts and words.
Are they coming from the real observer "I" or your energy-hungry ego "I"? Stop putting labels on things, including yourself.
Just be.
Take walks in nature, sit in silence and bask in the present moment.
In my case, the point of putting an end to shyness is not to be able to stand up to someone, but to stand up with everyone as we raise our faces to the sun and know that the same power that shines in it shines in us.
Shine on! Oh, and by the way, that last cookie is mine...
but I'll share it with you.
Copyright 2008 Heart Projects, LLC