Ego and the Present Moment

There are two things we take with us wherever we go - our ego and the present moment.
Having an awareness of when the ego is present is practically a full time job. It's an important one though because the ego is continually pulling us out of the present moment. When we get the gist that the ego is our false self keeping us in illusion and the present moment is in truth all there really is, it can be very liberating. In the meantime, we suffer because we believe the ego and what it tells us.
The ego can be very convincing. It can convince us that we're too fat, too thin, not enough, that we have to try harder. And then when we try harder, it's either not hard enough to satisfy the ego or we're doing it the wrong way. The ego is never satisfied. If we were to keep track of the ego's shenanigans we'd see that we're behaving like a cat chasing a laser light.
We're always trying to make our ego happy and sadly, the ego doesn't want to be happy, it wants what it doesn't have and it's never ending.
Engaging in the present moment is where we can see we are enough. In this very moment, right now, nothing can be different than it is and when you allow yourself to just be in this moment, allowing all of life to swirl and do it's thing, there is a calm that fills you. That's the calm of presence.
If you think you're over weight for example, stop for a moment and go inward with this thought. Are you the one with this thought? Are you the one who tells yourself you're fat? I doubt it. You're made of love and love doesn't speak to itself that way. If you really start to explore who it is that thinks you're fat, you'll find that it's your ego.
How did the ego ever come to think it knows how much you should weigh or what you should look like? It watches television. It pays attention to advertising. It stores all those magazine images and brings them out when you're starting to doubt yourself. The ego loves to judge and compare and it knows how to push your buttons.
The ego lives in the past or the future - what used to be or what can be if you work hard enough. The ego finds no satisfaction in this now moment because it can't argue with what is. That's why it's constantly trying to pull you out of the present moment. Meditation and sitting in the present moment can be a challenge because thoughts and the ego are constantly banging on the door like a little kid when you're trying to use the bathroom.
However, it is the process of meditation, constantly bringing yourself back to the present moment, that helps teach you how to quiet the ego and your thoughts. They're always there, they'll always want your attention, but at some point you learn to turn down the volume and they stop banging so loudly.
Your ego and the present moment are always with you, but which you choose to focus on and how you choose to be with them is completely up to you.
In love and light,
Deborah

Photo credit: Aaron Burden - Unsplash