Many people would describe a person with a big ego as someone who is either vain, big headed or controlling.
Well…on a basic level, this is true, but to understand Mindfulness, we need to seek a deeper understanding of the ego.
In the context of Mindfulness, the word ego represents the conscious, thinking mind and the sense of the self that constant thinking develops within us.
The job of the brain or mind is to protect us – to plan, devise strategies and keep us safe.
This is a very important function of the mind. However, repetitive thought patterns can become embedded in our consciousness and this overthinking can be taken to extremes, where a controlling mind set can be adopted and we start to believe our own thoughts and what they tell us.
This is because our mind is programmed to think defensively; from this, fear can be generated. This fear based mentality can then produce self-centred reactions without us being aware that this is happening.
As we grow and learn though adversity, this need to protect and project worry and fear can expand, to the point where our thoughts are dominating our own life or that of others. A sense of pride, arrogance and the need always to feel justied.
This need to be right becomes a habit where we instinctively react to anything we see as out of line with who we think we are by blaming others, because we don’t want to tarnish our view of ourselves.
Mindfulness encourages us to look at ourselves, in the moment.
This expanded sense of self, the importance of the self and the need to protect it can take us away from the understanding of what is truly important.
We all have had a really bad argument with someone that was started by something really silly or small, right?
This is an example of the ego, the projection of the mind and the need to be right causing us to lose sight of reality, wanting only to protect ourselves at that moment.
Mindfulness encourages us to refocus on the truth in any given moment without needing to be right.
So practicing mindfulness on a daily basis helps us to stop the impulsive reactions that come from the ego.