Where is your ego hiding? ?

Your ego hides by disguising itself as You. It makes a mental version and then it pretends to be You. In this way it creates a second version of your identity and has it stand alongside the authentic You. To make it more tricky to find it then makes many different false versions of you. There can be many conceptual versions of You.

?When you look in the mirror, do you have the idea that you are looking at yourself, or are you aware you are looking at a separate image that looks like you?

?Do we trick ourselves with an illusion when we think of the image as a separate image inside the mirror, or do we trick ourselves by assuming what is in the mirror is “us”? What happens when you are in a room with multiple mirrors and images of your body? Your mind can do a similar thing with your self-concepts that you can mistakenly identify with.

??in Plain Sight

?Listen to your thoughts, your speech and what others say and you may notice one of the ways this deception happens. Ever think or hear someone say something like:

• ?“I’m my own harshest critic”
• “I sabotage myself”
• “I’ve just got to get out of my way”
• “I hate myself.”

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We have one version of ourselves doing something to another version of ourselves. We have one version of ourselves interfering in the happiness and success of another version of ourselves. Could it be that they are not the same?

?Myself, me, and I are all word symbols that represent us like a distorted mirror images. What if one is an ego version of us, and the other is intrinsically Self? What if the ego version is like that image in the mirror that looks like us, sounds like us but interferes with the authentic self and the happiness we seek?

?We casually comment like this, and if you sit with this observation, you can reveal a deeper truth. It takes some atmages ias separate from our intrinsic Self.

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?Dissect language to see where the ego version can hide inside references to ourselves.

?“I’ve got to get out of my way.”

?It is not possible to be “in your way.” There would need to be two of you to be in your way.

We are describing two different versions of ourselves: one is the ego, and one is intrinsically Self.

?The key to seeing the Ego is to take the time to notice the truthful information in a passing comment.

?It is more accurate to say, “My sabotaging self is getting in the way of the best version of myself. It will then be helpful to write out the details of what the “sabotaging version” is doing to your Self.

?If we write it this way, we are more truthful about the two versions and the ego version is brought into awareness. Self-Awareness is the antidote to these ego issues.

?You must develop clarity with language to map the ego version separately from you. Seeing and articulating clearly are two steps to identifying the Ego.

?“I hate myself” becomes: “One aspect of my mind is expressing hate towards another aspect of myself.”

?“I’m my harshest critic,” becomes, “The Judge’s voice is critical of other aspects of my personality.”

?You may then see more than two versions of you. There is the YOU that can observe the Critical Judge, and YOU observe the version that is being judged. Let’s call the version being criticized the “victim”.

As a Conscious Observer, you see one part of your mind criticizing another concept version of your Self.

?The mind’s concepts of you cease to be you. They are all versions in different mirrors.

?Sometimes, the mind shifts from using the first-person language of “I,” “me,” and “myself,” to using the second-person language of “YOU.”

• ?Examples:
  “You are such an idiot.”
  “You don’t really believe this is going to work, do you.”
  “You know better than this.”
  “You will never get a break.”

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With these types of thoughts, it is typically the Judge character speaking to the Victim. The key to waking up at this step is to step out of the mirror image in the mind and into the center of your Self. Do you know you can do that?

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Mirror Work

The purpose of this exercise is to heighten your awareness of how easily you can use your mind to convince yourself that you are separate from your Centered Self.

Go stand in front of a mirror and look at the image in the mirror. Then, imagine you are in the mirror looking back at yourself in the room. Imagine moving back and forth between the mirror version and the Self version.

?With some practice, you can “see” yourself from what seems to be the mirror version. If you have multiple mirrors, imagine being in the mirror and looking at versions in the other mirrors. By consciously and intentfully doing this, you give your Self-control over perspective and train your mind to step out of mental images of the Ego, such as the Judge, Victim, and other characters.

?The ego mind creates conceptual ideas of our Self and then pulls us into their viewpoints. Then, we have thoughts and stories about other images in the mirror from the many Ego viewpoints. We end up being inside the Judge, talking about the Victim image, then inside the Victim, talking about the Perfectionist, etc. Multiple false images of ourselves are in the mind, talking to each other, and none are self-aware.

?After you do this with a mirror, do it with the language in your head. Watch parts of the mind “thinking thoughts” as if they were talking about each other and other people. Even though they try to trick you with “I,” “me,” or “you,” don’t fall for their attempts at trickery to hide in the mind’s image of You.

?Your mind will have a separate image of you, like a distorted mirror copy. Except that the distorted mirror copy criticizes, sabotages, hates, and gets in the way. There is also a mirror copy that receives the criticism and blame for all the problems and pretends to be “you” as well.

?If you make it your intent to see these images in the mind as characters, then you will see with awareness and magically pop into the center of Self. Once you do this, there are other steps to dismantle the stories and images of the ego you have identified.

?Clarity in language to separate false versions of the mind as parts of the Ego makes room for you as the Conscious observer. This makes it possible to reside with a sense of presence and calm in your Self.

?When you amplify this awareness, you make a significant separation between your Self and your ego-mind.

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Don’t be surprised if you find this problematic right off the bat. Just because you can understand it does not mean that you can skillfully perform these Self-Awareness practices at a high level right away. It can take practice. All the practices in my Book MindWorks, and my Self Mastery Course will help you gain these skills and power over your mind.