Your ego makes you an awful person.
It does.
In my previous post, I wrote about how your ego makes you unhappy. [Whilst you’re at it, you may want to read about how social media makes you unhappy too.] Our behaviour is a result of our experiences. We remember things that have happened to us – things which elicit specific responses. When we encounter the same things again, we naturally respond the same way; it’s like a reflex. We may not realise that our ego has conditioned us to behave this way. Is your ego making you an awful person instead?
1. Your ego drives your anger.
When someone is nasty to us, we tend to retort in anger. In the first place, they were rude to us when we did nothing to offend them. We feel wounded, insulted; we take offense. In an act of self-defense, we react in anger. That’s how we justify this ego-driven anger.
2. Your ego drives you to demand agreement.
You think you’re right; naturally, your point of view is the most valid. But someone else comes along and presents their point of view, and guess what? They do not agree with you. How dare they! Your ego senses a loss of validation. Because they don’t share your point of view, you feel invalidated. So you argue – to win, of course! Your ego needs to be in control all the time, to feel powerful, superior and validated. Your ego insists on being right, always. By arguing to win, you’ve been driven by your ego to demand agreement.
3. Your ego makes you think you’re the victim.
When something unpleasant happens, we complain. When we find ourselves in unfavourable situations, we complain. When someone does something nasty to us, we blame. By complaining, we are victimising ourselves. By blaming others, we are assigning responsibility to someone else for the way we feel. Of course you are entitled to complain as much as you want! Of course you are free to assert blame as you please! That’s because your ego says you are never at fault. Bad things are always happening to poor, poor you. People are always mistreating poor, poor you. Poor you!
4. Your ego exaggerates your sense of self-importance.
You think you’re more important than everyone else. You feel a sense of superiority over others. You think your needs outweigh that of others. You expect, and are naturally entitled, to be treated in a special manner befitting your high status. Everyone else is beneath you. It makes you feel good to think that they are stupid. And you? You’re smart. You’re better. Your ego exaggerates your sense of self-importance and sells it to you as confidence. Your ego says it’s OK to project arrogance outwardly because the world revolves around you.
5. Your ego stresses you out.
Your ego thinks it’s extremely important to win all the time. You constantly need to prove that you’re the best and that you’re always right. You never allow others to criticise you or disagree with you. You constantly put others down and devalue them. You devote all your energy towards fulfilling what your ego demands so that it can continue to thrive. All these acts stress you out. And when you’re stressed out, how can you possibly be happy? How can you possibly be pleasant? Your ego is running your life now.
Perhaps it’s time we learn to see how ego steers us upon negative paths. Perhaps it’s time we change our behaviour. We don’t have to comply with ego’s demands for the rest of our lives! xx J