The Ego has clearly shown us it's not our friend. So why do we still try to protect it?

[MischievousMonkey]

You can never totally get rid of the ego, that's impossible. But you can get better, a lot better, at keeping it in check.

I'm working on this since my teenage years and even if it's not easy, I'm better at it everyday. Letting things go. Anger. Pain. Resentment. Understanding how people's perceptions of me are just that: perceptions and how they can't hurt me but only the image of myself I built for the world to see.

I realize everyday I have so much to learn that's crazy

 

[Karb]

I wish I could rep

It's the thought that counts

 

[010101]

i feed my ego prime cuts & it keeps me entertained*

 

[Turbulent]

I think the reason we protect our ego is that it serves us as an anchor. It's kind of like an "identity". Sometimes i think that there's no such thing as a true identity. We will always morph into what we need to become to survive. But if someone successfully challenges who we are, challenges the "identity" we've grown comfortable with, the identity that we feel has worked for us for so long, that means we gotta find a new identity quickly which is painful. So we have a tendency to fiercely protect our ego to avoid the pain.

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

The bigger issue is people are not very honest or in touch with themselves. We take whatever is going on inside of ourselves and project them unto others. The biggies are jealousy and fear. Dudes will flip those into issues of "respect" rather than acknowledging how they feel.

Once you are able to be 100% honest with yourself and acknowledge you're not perfect shyt gets easier. Everyone is emotional; even men. What dictates success/failure emotionally is how you deal with those emotions. But a lot of dudes either don't understand or flat out refuse to acknowledge what they are feeling.

 

[Capitol]

Read "The courage to be disliked" by Ichiro Kishimi, it is a distillation of Adlerian psychology which might seem counter-intuitive at times, but many people have found it to be beneficial. If you are familiar with Stoic philosophy or even self-help books like Stephen Covey's "7 habits of highly effective people" (which I strongly recommend because it focuses on character building and shifting your paradigms, i.e. the lens through which you interpret the world) then you will recognize many of the concepts. It is a very easy read as well.

"Anxiety", "anger" etc are emotions that you create to serve some type of goal that you have (could be subconscious). Figure out what that goal is and how you have been "benefitting" from these emotions throughout all of these years and you will have found the core issue that you need to confront.

In my many years on earth I have learned that the mind is an extremely tricky thing to deal with. The ego in particular is extremely deceptive. That nikka likes to hide in the shadows and does not like to be examined. It likes to create noise to disguise itself.

But you have to examine that nikka and question it based on logic (your logical side is different from your ego-driven, impulsive side). The former has to dominate the latter.

As breh above said its about balance.

What even makes you think your intuition is your ego

 

[xXOGLEGENDXx]

The premise of the OP is flawed. It assumes that your friendships and relationships are always quality. The truth is that sometimes you're all you've got.

There are times when you've got to let your ego take over for it a bit. And others where you should be humble. Are you insecure or are you right to feel threatened? Is your jealousy justified or are you acting like a child?

That's not what I mean. Protecting yourself or realizing you need to end something is not your ego taking over. That is you being smart and making the best decisions for yourself. Ego is when you always want to save face no matter what. You will do whatever it takes or sacrifice whatever/whoever to not look weak or vulnerable. That is what I mean.

 

[Barnett114]

The truth in this thread will ignored and humble brags will continue to be made daily

The people that's truly getting it, don't brag on here.

It's the people creating narratives that do.

 

[Yogi]

Y’all giving ego a bad name in here. If you don’t have at least a little bit of it, people will walk all over you. It’s like a professional athlete who knows he is the best seeing inferior players making more money than him. That athlete doesn’t need more money, but his ego is telling him that since he is the best, he should be paid like the best. When they holdout for more money, a lot of times they get what they want. Putting his ego aside would have resulted in him making less than his market value.

 

[Thatrogueassdiaz]

Wtf are we talking about? Being egotistical or ego driven isn't the same thing as having an ego in a psychological sense. Without who you wouldn't be anchored to this world. There is a reason for ego. Now if you are saying you're being more open and less judgmental, then I can understand that

 

[xXOGLEGENDXx]

Y’all giving ego a bad name in here. If you don’t have at least a little bit of it, people will walk all over you. It’s like a professional athlete who knows he is the best seeing inferior players making more money than him. That athlete doesn’t need more money, but his ego is telling him that since he is the best, he should be paid like the best. When they holdout for more money, a lot of times they get what they want. Putting his ego aside would have resulted in him making less than his market value.

That's not what I mean. That is a logical decision that most people will make. That is not ego. Ego would be when that same athlete falls from grace and isn't the same, but still wont take a pay cut or lesser role to help his team. He will continue to act like he is the best even though clearly he is not, but his pride/ego won't allow him to take less or not be the top tog and in turn his team suffers. (Kobe, Carmelo, Dez Bryant etc...)

 

[Emoryal]

Be a broke homeless guy that doesn’t take shyt from anyone brehs

I rather be broke and homeless than throw my principles away. You'll understand when you get older

2 examples of ego and "pride"
shyts clearly not that simple

every goal you have is generated by ego unless it is fukking eating and sleeping and those are atleast affected by it so the simple answer is...you have no free will

 

[Complexion]

Simply put most people have no idea or conception of their self beyond the ego and its incessant chatter for they live constantly in a reactive state of mind instead of placing that C where it needs to be and getting creative instead as the mindbody doesn't multitask ergo you're in ego mode or the alternative and seeing as the first is the default state it is something one must actively work to get out of and experience the familiar newness of the latter perspective. Most don't because either they don't know, don't show or don't care about whats going on under the hood.

 

[Edub]

The ego is a receptor for the voice of the evil spirit.......LOSE THAT EGO as soon as possible .......life becomes much more pleasant once it’s placed in check

 

[semicko82]

2 examples of ego and "pride"
shyts clearly not that simple

every goal you have is generated by ego unless it is fukking eating and sleeping and those are atleast affected by it so the simple answer is...you have no free will

So would you say what I did was right or wrong?