ye old ego

 

how much joy, power & money have you abandoned to avoid a little dent in your ego?

what an interesting question, posted by harvey griffin on twitter the other day. (it seems like sometimes i get all my inspiration from twitter, doesn’t it?)

oh, let me count the ways! let me, also, sidestep for now the weighty questions of what the ego is, how it is different from “me” and whether the ego is really as great a villain as this question (and my take on it) suggests.

yes, let me count the ways! i have

  • forgone power in order to avoid short moments of embarrassment
  • not taken advantage of financial opportunities because that darn ego told me i wasn’t good enough
  • let go of chances to grab a handful of joy in order to give in to guilt
  • let that ego lie to me, with my knowledge, advising me to hold back, resulting in loss of power
  • not asked for help because i’m supposed to know things, and that gave me grief (not joy)
  • not accepted money because that didn’t fit my ego’s image of myself
  • and on and on it goes.

    of course i could lament some more but i’m not in the mood for it, plus as a counsellor, i’m not supposed to do that. so let’s see how we can balance this out …

    what if …

    we also asked:

  • tell me about a time when you were brave, and that made you happy
  • how empowered do you feel when you don’t care whether you’re “good enough”?
  • have you ever improved your financial situation by simply asking for help?
  • what would you say? what questions would you ask?

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