This Monday, I had an argument with the guy who washes our
car. Though my point of rebuking him was valid, letting the disagreement go out
of hand wasn’t. It took me almost half a day to bring my mind to calm & another
two days to pacify my maid, since he came from her reference. And that was
after I call myself a spiritual, level-headed person. It was a small test of my
control over words, and I blew it.
This small incident opened my eyes to the biasness that we
have towards our own thoughts – ego, in other words. Years of doing regular meditation
has brought it down to some level, but it still exists. The spiritual idea of
knowing myself as a whole, and finding different (more positive) part of
personality needs more practice. The self-important, self-centric part of doesn’t
need to be destroyed. It just needs to be understood, and used only in the
times of criticality. Keeping in mind the delicate balance this task requires,
here are my three points of action:
1.
Recognise your size in proportion of the
universe: If you think about it seriously, you are tinier than the speck of
dust in the proportion of this whole universe. What you do in your daily life hardly
affects things at this scale. The liberation of accepting your insignificance
gives relief from self-centricity and helps to put self in the perspective.
2.
Recognise others’ importance: You know why so
many people get stuck in traffic jams? Because everyone thinks that he’s more important
and so tries to ram in between. Your journey is only as important as the person’s
traveling next to you. So next time when your ego starts to jump up and down in
the moment of showing who the boss is, remind yourself that every other person
and every other work is as important as yours in this universe.
3.
Recognise the temporariness of every moment:
Today’s headline is tomorrow’s forgotten fact. So many instances could have
been avoided if we hadn’t let Ego blow them up into monumental proportions. Most
of these are now forgotten moments. Change is inherent. Nothing lasts. Nothing stays
in the same state as it is now for even a second. Go for your goals, and love the
journey. But recognise the passing nature of time that makes everything seem as
just a castle in the sand, to be washed out to sea by the waves of time.
