Ego? Really?

I attended a meeting/get-together last night. I planned on being at the site earlier than everyone to meet with a friend. He was dressed in yoga-wear when he got there which prompted me to ask what the outfit was all about. He was going to try to go to a yoga class nearby later that night.

We walked into my office where my yoga mat was laying in the center of the room, incense was burning and meditation music was playing. I suppose the mood allowed him to relax into a conversation about the way he feels most of the time–everything is a big deal. It's your ego, I said. Ego?, but I am not that way. It's true. He is nice, funny, helpful, and puts everyone else first. This is far removed from our version of ego. Yet it is ego that is keeping him from feeling happy.

This is negative self-centeredness. We think egotistical people are those who walk into a room and suck all the attention–conceited, big-headed, selfish. However, egotistical people are also those who feel victims of the world. Ego is at play when we are in our glum states. It is there that we feel that no one understands us, that we are to blame for the negative feelings of others, that we are responsible for letting hurtful things happen. It is ego that keeps us feeling guilty, sacrificial lambs. That is ego–this presumption that we have any control over the way others feel, think or act, that we have any control over events. It is ego that concludes that we are the reason for bad things happening.

Today is a good day to let go of our codependence on others' hardships and negative feelings. Realize that ego is what separates me from you, from peace, from happiness, from love.