3 Ways to go From Ego to Awareness - Embrace your Inner Teacher

The path to peace lies not in fighting the ego but in observing it.

A student once asked his Zen master, "How do I get rid of my ego?" The master smiled and pointed to a shadow cast by a tree. "How do you get rid of a shadow?" he asked. The student pondered, and the master continued, "You don’t. You bring in more light."

The ego is not our enemy; it is our teacher. The more we observe this teacher, the more we learn. If we try to destroy our ego, we only create more of it—because the destroyer is also the ego.

This idea of destroying the Ego, is quite impossible to achieve. For the same reason as Alan Watts once said, "You cannot lift yourself by the bootstraps."

The only thing to do is keep learning, keep observing.

As the ego becomes aware of itself, it naturally lets go of behaviors that cause itself suffering.

5 Ego-Centered Behaviors to Observe:

• An urge to be right at all costs.

• Fear of the unknown and resistance to change.

• Attachment to people, objects, and identities.

• Feelings of superiority or inferiority based on a belief.

• Tendency to never let go or surrender.

5 Awareness-Centered Behaviors to Embody:

• Desire to understand rather than be right.

• Trusting your intuition without overthinking.

• Finding emotional self-reliance.

• Rooting yourself in compassion and fairness.

• Letting go of all identities and attachments.

3 Practical Ways to Shift from Ego to Awareness:

• Observe Without Right or Wrong, Good or Bad: Patience to observe without the urge to judge is key to awareness. When you catch yourself wanting to label or judge a situation, pause and breathe. Reflection: What if you could witness your thoughts without believing every one of them?

• Practice Calm Alertness when you're being criticized or attacked: The ego reacts defensively when threatened. Instead, practice calm alertness, knowing that true strength lies in not being triggered. Reflection: How can you respond with compassion when your ego feels under attack?

• Let Go of Fixed Outcomes: The ego wants control and certainty. When you unprepare and allow things to flow, you step into the space of awareness, where life unfolds naturally. Reflection: Where can you surrender control today and simply allow things to be?

The more light of awareness we shine on our ego, the more peaceful our inner world becomes.

PS: If you have some time, watch this deep-dive on the Ego. It's a conversation I had with a friend of mine TJ, 4 years ago.