How Healthy is Your Ego?

Dictionary.com defines 'ego' as: the “I” or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought.

Simply, your ego is an internal, albeit invisible mechanism with the sole purpose of prioritizing you first.

We all know or have met people who seemingly focus on nothing but me, me, me, me, me, I, I, I, I, I, my, my, my, my, my and mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. Sometimes I even look back over some of my previous blog posts and gasp at my excessive usage of "I," but we'll save dissection of my ego for another day :)

There is nothing wrong with having an ego. In fact, it is a natural part of the human design. It is when our egos become excessively inflated that problems and conflict arise. The lens through which we see the world begins to filter the grit unrelated to self or self preservation, as if panning for gold in a riverbed. Our egos fixate on that which shines brightest, which, by design, means the ego fixates on self.

Rod Sterling once wrote, "The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices -- to be found in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own -- for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone."

His observation is brilliantly sound. We cannot simply banish an ego to the Twilight Zone nor become so selfless that we all could stand in for Jesus Christ, but if left unchecked an ego can evolve into the greatest weapon against humanity.

For those who wield little power or influence, the ego doesn't present such a hazard to society as it does to ourselves. Cullen Hightower was quoted, "Our ego is our silent partner--too often with a controlling interest." The control that a healthy ego can have over a person is synonymous to social and professional suicide. Think too much of yourself and you will be ignored, thus killing your ego with soul crushing humility.

One of my favorite pieces of wisdom on managing ego comes from Colin Powell. He said, "Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it."

Again, there is nothing wrong with having an ego. It is apart of our design. But the ego can be an incredibly powerful tool or influence over your degree of happiness, success, prosperity; all things positive in your life.

Never let an ego navigate the course of your life's journey. Think and see with a clear lens and let your heart be an open, welcoming space. When it's all said and done, you'll be grateful you did.