Know that a force greater than your ego is always at work in your life...

Don't allow the approval and attention of others to influence you. Know that a force greater than your ego is always at work in your life.

Ponder for a minute the phrase, 'presence of mind.' When you hear a statement like, "Lucky she had the presence of mind to...," what is the speaker referring to? What force is guiding the "she," to which the speaker is referring? It is the Universal intelligence to which we are all connected.

At any (every) moment when you make the proper choice, at exactly the proper time, without any reference to your personal experience, without fear of failure, and without regard for personal gain, the Universal intelligence is acting through you. This Universal intelligence/consciousness/God/soul is what you use when your Ego is not involved. Without your Ego, you don't see yourself as separate from others, as unique, as needing, as deserving... All of these identities are made up in your mind. Absent the Ego there is no YOU and OTHER, there is only ONE, one existence, one soul, one humanity, one Universe...

Self-preservation is the Ego's main concern. It defines you as separate from others, and it does so by identifying with qualities and attributes that make you special. It constantly searches for opportunities to assert and confirm its identities. Suppose you (your Ego) identifies with being tough. Now everyone has an occasional weak moment, a moment of confusion, of indecisiveness, of fear, or something similarly non-tough. But, your Ego identifies with being tough, and so must now find an excuse to re-assert its identity, to put a fresh coat of paint on its badly chipped fascade. The result is usually taking a shot at an easy target, a boss threatening a crew member, a child picking on a smaller, weaker child, or sadly often shows up as domestic abuse. It must act tough! Through this "tough" act your Ego renews its identity, its self-definition.

Your Ego needs to impose its definition of self onto family, co-workers, friends, and everyone it comes in contact with. Worse though, it ascribes this identity on the future too! When you meet someone new, and your Ego attempts to force its self-definition on the new person, you get problems. You get resistence and conflict. This leads to anger, frustration, manipulation, threats and even violence...

The good news is that all this Ego'd thinking is completely false. You can stop it at any time. You can simply take back your thinking and overrule your Ego. Think of a tiny dog, barking endlessly while actually shaking with fear, when the owner picks it up and takes control of the situation. The barking stops. Your real self simply has to do the same, take control of and "Shush" your Ego.

Today, observe yourself. When you plan to act, or speak, ask yourself, "What is my true motivation here?" Look for clues to see if your Ego is trying to assert or re-assert its identities. Watch what you say or do to "define" yourself. In the split second before you go ahead with an Ego stroking act, choose to return to the "presence of mind" that connects us all...

Duffy