Allowing the diminishment of the ego April 1, 2014
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Ego Management.Tags: A New Earth, awareness, controlling ego, Eckhart Tolle, ego management, managing the ego, personal development, personal growth, philosophy, spirituality
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As we have learned in our ongoing efforts with our personal development, our ego can have a negative effect on our ability to realize our growth goals.
This is because the ego frequently works against what we consciously know to be our best interests.
Eckhart Tolle has written and spoken extensively about these negative tendencies of the ego and of how we can control or better manage the ego’s destructive tendencies.
In his book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, Tolle offers a number of techniques to accomplish this.
One of these is “allowing the diminishment of the ego.”
Tolle considers the emotion of anger to be one of the ego’s main repair mechanisms. He cites the example of our being in a situation in which the ego wants us to react with immediate angry words.
Instead, Tolle suggests we resist the urge to react immediately and defensively. Instead, say nothing for a few moments, collect ourselves, and then speak with deliberation and calmness.
Reacting with anger Tolle says, “causes a temporary, but huge ego inflation.”
By contrast, reacting with calmness, yet still responding firmly and clearly, “diminishes” the ego and its defensiveness…There will be power behind your words, yet no reactive force,” Tolle explains.
By practicing this frequently, the ego’s repair mechanism of anger is thwarted, and the ego is diminished, thus making us more conscious and in better control.
Moods, ego, and personal development decisions March 17, 2014
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Ego Management, Fear and Anxiety.Tags: controlling ego, depressed mood, ego management, managing the ego, personal development, personal growth, positive thinking, Richard Carlson
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In our ongoing effort to develop our personal growth potential, our ego and its periodic bad moods can sometimes have a negative effect on decisions we make.
This can happen when for some reason we are feeling “down” or in a depressed mood (for whatever reason), when we are feeling physically unwell, or when we are overly fatigued.
In such cases we need to realize that managing the ego is important from the perspective of recognizing that we are in fact, actually only “in a bad mood” with all its attendant and non-realty-based negative perceptions and feelings. At such times, we can make poor decisions based on this negativity.
Dr. Richard Carlson, a consultant on stress and happiness, explains that when we “are in a bad mood, life looks unbearably serious and difficult.” He reminds us, however, that moods are fleeting; moods (good and bad) are “always on the run”, so to speak.
And he cautions, making important decisions about our lives at such times, when everything looks bleak, can be disastrous, because our perceptions of actual reality can be negatively influenced.
“When you’re in an ill mood, learn to pass it off simply as that: an unavoidable human condition that will pass with time, if you leave it alone. A low mood is not the time to analyze your life. To do so is emotional suicide. If you have a legitimate problem, it will still be there when your state of mind improves,” Carlson says.
When our state of mind improves, we are able to handle problems more effectively and positively.
Personal Development Ideas 