It's Time - Ego at 'Work'

Many in the workplace believe that together with carrying their daily lunch bags to work, they are compelled also to carry that invisible but indispensable companion the EGO. It's a common myth that one cannot thrive, or even survive in the rat race of life and work today without it. But does our EGO truly serve us? Or are we simply a slave to it?

In fact, EGO is constantly at work, whether we are in the workplace or not. EGO is an age-old companion that has lived with us in our soul suitcase since birth. We keep it at hand for those moments of insecurity and discomfort, when the self does not feel confident or free and needs that little extra EGO boost! But our faithful protector, far from keeping us safe, causes a lot more harm than good.

EGO is subtle yet its offspring are not! We may not easily admit that we have EGO, but the children of EGO appear at a moment's notice and in many forms including: Avoiding, blaming, complaining, competing, condescending, controlling, correcting, criticizing, defending, denying, desiring, disapproving, disliking, doubting, envying, escaping, fixing (others) judging, impatience, liking (some and not others), lying, possessiveness, projecting, protecting, resisting and worrying.

We may dislike our own behaviour, we may even realise that it is causing our relationship and us pain and punishment, but EGO, that foe in the guise of a friend, is not going to let go of our company easily.

Take a few moments to take off the mask of EGO and reflect. You will notice that just about everyone is dependent upon the support of their EGO for a sense of self worth and value. Externally it comes across as an air of arrogance, bossiness, aggressiveness, and superciliousness. Internally, EGO is whispering to us that we are better than or less than or even just plain worthless, none of which are true. The façade is hiding the truth even from ourselves: just as darkness is an absence of light, so too EGO is the absence of authentic self-respect.

And yet if we just had the courage to drop the mask and be who we truly are, we could easily make EGO redundant.

When I look more deeply inside I realize that I do not need to compete. I am unique, special and valuable just because I am, and not because of a title on the door, or the certificates on the wall or the trophies on the shelves. All those demonstrate my effort and enthusiasm to excel in life, and that is wonderful, yet I am not great because of those. I am great, because I recognize I am an eternal and powerful soul-being with a special part to play.

A big fat salary cheque may be a welcome sight, but it is a mirage offering me a false sense of freedom, a quality that can only come from within when I realise that I am much greater than the size of my bank balance.

An arrogant personality is a little bit like a coconut, extremely hard and not very attractive on the outside. Peaches are more enticing. The peaches of the world are those whose self-respect allows them to present a softer, gentler face to the world, yet internally they are strong. Their inner power allows them to drop the pretence of EGO because they know their own strength and value. Peaches lead by example; they have humility and honesty and work in collaboration.

As for the coconuts they prefer to show the world how hard they are, they rule by force rather than by consensus, and they may get things done, but are generally not very much liked.

It takes a lot of effort to crack open a coconut, but with a little bit of will and some personal effort even a coconut can become valuable: when the shell (of EGO) breaks and the goodness spills out.

It's time to do the real work of dropping the EGO and travelling light to work! Once we have cracked open the EGO we will automatically receive our big fat salary cheque! Not the paper kind, but an income of multimillion blessings, love and good wishes from our family, friends and colleagues. In the light of the authentic self the EGO is automatically dispelled.