Letting go of your ego

e·go - [ee-goh, eg-oh]

–Noun, plural e·gos.

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.

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Egotism; conceit; self-importance. An inflated feeling of pride in your superiority to others.

"You must transcend your ego. If you do not overcome ego during your lifetime, then you have inadvertently reduced everything else in your life to insignificance. The deeper truth is revealed only when you conquer your own ego. Without transcending ego during life, it continues as a problem—even after death." -Swami Premoda

At first glance, putting aside our ego seems like a relatively easy assignment. But making a conscious effort and actually living our lives every day without our ego is challenging. After all, isn't it ego that prevents us from allowing the person behind us at the grocery store to go ahead of us when they only have a few items and we have a basket full? Arguing with the ones we love instead of expressing compassion, feeling discrimination against immigrants, minorities, people we don't know, those less fortunate. Or how about the motorist on the highway who refused to let us in his lane when he clearly saw that we needed to get over? And on a larger scale, the men and women in the Middle East who are fighting an oxymoronic 'war for peace'? Putting aside your ego is liberating and will truly create peace within yourself. When you put aside the unnecessary idea of your self-importance and learn awareness of others as well as your thoughts and emotions, you will observe the world from a different perspective. You will begin to see the beauty of nature, life and the humans around you who exist in this great universe with you. You will feel a compassion that you didn't have before and peace in its purest form.

Peace, after all, is the end of the ego.