“I can’t believe I did that. Life dealt me a bad hand.”

“You just don’t understand. If things were only different.”

“That won’t work. Why even try? I’m too old.”

“I am not good enough. I’m too young. I can’t. Why does this keep happening to me?”

“If I had a better job. This is just the way it is.”

“You’ll never amount to anything. What’s the point?”

Does this conversation sound familiar? The Ego is a fourth-dimensional, two-faced adversary and acquaintance. When moving through the Ego, we relinquish parts of our awareness. The Ego is often spoken about in negative connotations, but why would our creator put something inside of us if there were no benefit of some sort? Through the practices of mindfulness, silence, and meditation, we begin to create understanding and recognize our friend, the Ego. We spend our lifetime in the question of who I am, instead of what I am. Ego speaks in who we are, while our essence speaks in what we are.

“The Ego is an exquisite instrument. Enjoy it, use it-just don’t get lost in it.” –Ram Dass

The messages from the Ego require interpretation because the Ego has a reputation for guiding people into emotions of feeling less than. The misunderstanding is that our free agency of choice is always at our disposal; rather, we choose to place blame instead of taking accountability. The word Ego derives from Latin, meaning “I”. While many acronyms define the word Ego, here are two definitions that can offer integrity to comprehending both sides of it. The first name for E.G.O. is Edging God Out, and the second is Empowerment, Gratitude, and Open-mindedness. To understand only half of a thing is to not know anything about it at all. As humans, we are conditioned to call things good or bad with nothing in between. When we get trapped in the identities of the Ego, we become convinced of the lies that we will go through extreme lengths to defend, protect, and hide behind them. The Ego never really gets extinguished, rather, tamed and understood as it gets observed more.

George Meredith wrote in The Egoist, 1879, “Possession without obligation to the object possessed approaches felicity.” Not knowing the purpose of our life leaves our life in the construct of the Ego, while pushing our true nature deeper within. We try our best to explain the conversations within us, because to have an accurate interpretation of an internal conversation that is intangible can be like explaining the color red to a blind person. If we are to change the world, we will have to change ourselves first, while at the same time letting go of ourselves. If we are to change our lives, we will have to change ourselves first.

There is a secret power within and behind our Ego that we possess that we are ignorant of. Surrender when your intuition speaks, and observe when the voice of the Ego utters, for there is value in both voices to show us what is inside of us.

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

The conversation is where one lives and dwells, and the voice that calls us to freedom and potential. Our destiny lies in understanding both voices within us, the one we call good and the one we call bad. Have courage and find the prize because everything is always conspiring in our favor.