Ego - What?

Oh Man.. The Ego.. Wise people have spent good part of their lives warning us about ills of it, perhaps since the time we learned to communicate. There seems to be two ways of explaining ego.. in terms of science and in terms of philosophy. In some part they will overlap. The science would explain ego by chemicals known as hormones and reptilian brain. Ego is, believe it or not, is baked into us to help us survive, much like emotions. It mostly resides in reptilian brain which is always on a lookout for keeping us safe - in the 'African Jungles'. We no longer face that constant danger, but the amygdala still runs on the program from thousands of years ago.

Philosophers in all cultures around the world realised it millennia ago and warned about it. Be it the stoics of ancient Greece and Rome or Eastern Mystics and Buddhas. Ego, when it gets in the way, which is true for most people, most of the times, makes us take bad decisions (reptilian brain at work). That is what would stop us from learning and progressing - ego tells us we know it all or what this lowly creature teach me anyway. Ego makes us angry and quickly, and we fail to see the reality completely. All to our own detriment. When we say leave/ conquer/ get over etc your ego.. we don't want to become door mats. It is to understand self and check what is behind my emotion of anger (ego almost always causes anger). Here is the thing, you body knows anger before your brain does.. and you can train yourself to intercept anger signal before it gets to reptilian brain, because once the signal reaches there, cavalry gets out. - will power doesn't cut it. If you can see it happening, be in control and know that you are actively displaying ego because the situation demands it - that is the superpower!

Now the 'Do' part. It is a simple exercise to say, may be difficult to practice. There are seven core emotions that humans experience - Anger, Fear, Sadness, Disgust, Joy, Excitement and Sexual Excitement. All these emotions manifest in the body in different ways - think heat, expansion, contraction, tingling, knots, numbness or colours like black, orange. Sit comfortably, bring to mind an event that raises one of those emotions, keep that as vivid as possible and do a body scan, looking for signs and make a note of it. Refine your notes over time. Be amazed. Cheers.