Ego

How did the word "ego" get such a bad rep? Isn't Ego a part of identity and work and culture? 

Ego is the first layer of our self-awareness. It's how we see ourselves in the mirrors of introspect  and how we see our place among others. It's the easiest part of our minds to measure and cultivate. The easiest to confuse and abuse.

The thing is, if we can make it a practice of taking care of the Ego with healthy stuff, feed it with a balance of vegetables and sweets and sodiums, a balance between cultivating and detaching from it, between rewarding and reprimanding it, Ego will make a great anchor and companion in the face of Id's temptations and Superego's impossible demands.

And that's another thing. You can't just take your theories in parts: Ego isn't the only part* of the psyche in the Fruedian** school*** of Psychology****.

*(And everyone has all the parts: Id, Ego and Superego.)

**(And Fruedian isn't the only way to understand Psychology.)

***(And the schools of psychology interconnect with a broader world inside every person: The world of actions and thoughts and dreams that makes up all of you.)

****(And studying Psychology is not the practice that will make a goddamn good person out of you. It's how you use yourself and knowledge in serving others that matters as far as humanity cares.)

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So if you want to know how to control your ego, learn about it. Understand how your Ego works. Figure out the most effective diet to keep it happy but healthy. Get used to the ridges and feels and flaws in your Ego.

In the beginning, depending on how long you've been away from its true size and color and flow, your Ego might bellow, burn or bite. Stay calm. How your ego behaves in your presence reflects the kind of nutrition you've been feeding it. Don't run. Fix it. If failed, try again tomorrow.

It's like sex and food, Ego can be a useful word and idea and tool. You can use your ego to do/make/cause good things, to serve God and fellows. Or you can let it run around spreading dirt and disease.

But the point remains. It's not the size or color or structure of the Ego. It's how you want to use all the variations of your Ego that matters.