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THREE simple letters, yet they have so much influence on our lives and certainly on our happiness. There is an old, but wise saying that goes as follows – ‘Be careful what you tell yourself’.
A good question here is to ask why do we have to be so careful? The answer is simple.
You see what we tell ourselves is simply an opinion – no more or no less, and opinions are very often subject to being flawed – they may be right and they may be wrong and very often are the latter.
You see EGO raises its ugly head here, because the main ingredient of an opinion is thought and the main ingredient of EGO is thought.
You can’t have an opinion without thought and EGO cannot exist without thought.
Again it is very important to ask why should we be so wary of the ‘thinking mind’?
The mind of the Human Being is a very complex entity. I use the word entity not out of any disrespect but because it is very difficult to pinpoint. Nowadays we believe we know so much about the mind, we can give all the facts and figures but can anyone tell me where in the body the mind is situated? Can you show it to me?
On a humorous note we often tell someone to be careful or – ‘I’ll give you a piece of my mind’. Very interesting!
Back to ‘the thinking mind’! The average Human Being has about 60,000 thoughts in a given day and we are informed that approximately 80% of these are negative. (Don’t believe me? Google it!!)
So if that is the case – i.e. if 80 % of our thoughts are negative – then surely as a follow on 80% of our opinions are negative because as I said above you can’t have an opinion without thought.
There is a fairly crude but effective phrase that I feel is very appropriate here.
‘Opinions are like assholes; everybody has one’ (Dirty Harry)
How do we nullify the EGO – the answer is Meditation. The practice of meditation on a regular basis is the best way of ridding ourselves of The EGO. Your mind cannot be in two places at one time – so you cannot be focused on your breath and your thoughts at a given moment.
There are many many types of meditation and the breath is just one of them, perhaps the most easily accessible as we have to breathe at all times simply and if only to stay alive.
I love the acronym EGO – Edging God Out
When we are connected with our thoughts we are connected with the human side of our existence but when we meditate (breath etc.) it connects us with our Divine Higher Power and inner guidance.
“Don’t believe me? Google it!!”
This is the trouble with so called Western philosophy today.
This millennial generation mindset with no original, questioning or discerning thought. Just regurgitation of a fixed mindset – liberal left in this case.
Besides Roger Harty, there is plenty of evidence from the phycology of your article that you have some Ego yourself and why not? Ego is a strong part of the human character, just like being introvert is a weak part.
Nothing wrong with Ego once it is confidant, balanced and controlled.
Too true Dirty Harry, ‘Opinions are like assholes; everybody has one’ – no political correctness in that at statement at all? LOL, the good old days.