I believe that somewhere in our heart, we know who we truly are and how we wish to show up in this world. I know that somewhere, in the control tower of our mind, lives a very entitled ego, glued to its radar screen, monitoring every beat of our heart. I picture that whenever we have an inspired idea or intention that promises momentum towards our heart’s manifestation of its truth, a blip shows up on Ego’s radar and that over-reactionary, little pest moves to intercept, shoot it down, or sink it.
In his TEDx talk, Jason Freeman refers to ego as our “perfectionistic voice”, I think this is a great name for it. It’s likely we all have a different way of describing it but one thing I know for certain is that we all know how it feels.
Why we were gifted with this recipe of personal clarity and the uncontrollable resistance of it isn’t clear . . . maybe to keep us entertained on a lonely night? I wonder if our ancestors dealt with it as constantly as we do now, or if it’s an unfortunate luxury created and empowered by modern society. An imbalance we are born into and encouraged to heed. This misguided “reality” leads so many of us to surrender to the isolated prison of our mind. Sure, Ego’s up there with his radar on the other side of the cell, but he’s so busy berating us that he never hears what we have to say, so we often give up trying to be heard.
It’s in that surrender that our connection to our known sense of self fades. It’s when we start believing the waterfall of untruths, rushing from Ego’s mouth. It’s when we start to agree with those untruths and repurpose them as fact that life grows miserable and often tragic.
So what can we do? How can we learn to dance with these gifts, both desired and unwanted? How can we ever hope to make progress in life with such an extreme duality to our very being?
Sometimes it helps to know that you’re not alone. That your prison is surrounded by millions of others.
Sometimes you need someone to show you that the key to your cell has been in your pocket all along.
And so it is, with honor, that I present to you the entertaining, impassioned and invaluable speech Jason Freeman delivered from the TEDx stage in Sugarland, TX
Chris Taylor is an award winning graphic designer, web developer, occasional blogger and wannabe writer. He is also known to play around behind the scenes at this website and runs Creative Beard, a design company.
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