Lesson 6 - VANQUISH EGO!

To win, Sun Tzu says:

Recognize when to engage

and when not to engage

          The battle ground is always within our minds. But instead we love to take the fight into the streets of our lives – finding fault with others, taking offense easily, loudly proclaiming our innocence at home, at work, at ‘play’. So, before we tackle when to engage in battle and when not to engage let’s remind ourselves where that battleground resides. In – Our - Mind. O.K. That being said loud and clear, let’s move forward.

    In lessons 4 and 5 we emphasized the importance of recognizing ego’s Ninja Warriors in their camouflaged uniforms and understanding fully the weaponry they will use for attack. Now is a good time to spy on ego’s headquarters and do deep recon of the enemy.

     We learn that ego’s plan is to protect us. Ego arrogantly believes it knows who we are and what we need to survive. Focused tightly on keeping our bodies alive and conquering all social encounters, ego creates its master strategies. Ego’s logic: Keep our bodies alive and win in every social encounter, no matter the cost to our happiness, our comfort, our peace of mind or the effects on others.

      Circled around ego are its three Ninja Warriors.

      We notice the first Ninja Warrior slouching and complaining – its name is Guilt. Feelings of unworthiness, uselessness and despair flow over this warrior forming its weaponary that seep into our mind to debilitate us.

       Trembling next to Guilt is the Ninja Warrior whose name is Fear. Cold fingers of panic are poking and thrusting from the Warrior reaching to back us into emotional corners.

        Bold, loud, aggressive and ready to explode in a nano second at any perceived slight looms the final warrior whose name is Anger. This Ninja Warrior carries the heavy weapons of destruction. The first two warrior are inwardly focused to cause us the most personal pain, but Anger is always poised to attack and take the battle outside the mind, confusing us so we no longer know from where the true enemy threatens and where the battleground must be.

       When must we engage these enemies? As soon as we catch a whiff of their presence. The clue? We will be unhappy, uncomfortable, irritable. And we must act quickly, as soon as we notice a lack of contentment. We must change our perspective, within our own mind.

       When not to engage? When we believe the threat to our happiness and safety is attacking us from a cause outside of ourselves – the people around us, the government, the weather, the traffic patterns. And the list can go on and on.

       Exactly what to do when we must engage ego within the battleground of our minds? That will be another lesson.

Some thoughts to contemplate. . .

1.     Notice how often you find the battleground outside you as people and events that disturb your contentment.

2.     Review the three ego Ninja Warriors of guilt, fear, anger and make a point of labeling them by name each time your feel discomfort.

3.     Make a commitment to desire the shifts in your own perspectives that can correct your feelings of guilt, fear or anger. This is a deceptively simple yet powerful step.