World Ego Awareness Day – May 11th What Is It and Why Should We Participate?

Have you looked at a calendar recently? We celebrate so many holidays. Aside from the standard ones like Easter, Halloween, and Christmas, there are other specialty days for almost anything. In fact, according to awarnessdays.com, there is Dr. Seuss Day, Pancake Day, Random Acts of Kindness Day and unbelievably, National Spaghetti Day. With so much going on, it is easy to get lost in the sea of events to observe. So, I would like to bring your attention to an event that is well worth investigating. It is World Ego Awareness Day. On May 11th of each year, a non-profit organization called the Ego Awareness Movement, it encourages everyone to take a moment to observe how our egos function and the affect it has on the quality of our lives. In a world driven by time, it is an important undertaking to pause and reflect for a few moments on what is considered the biggest contributor to our mental health – our egos. This is a subject that most of us want to ignore because it challenges us to take a closer look at our thoughts and behavior; the automatic responses to certain triggers to our subconscious belief systems. Upon perusing the organizations' website ‘egoawarenessmovement.org’, I noticed that it is packed with information and inspiration on identifying the ego and recognizing the way it works and influences our lives. You don’t have to be on a ‘spiritual path’, practice yoga or anything of that sort to be able to glean substance from this site. “The real cause of human suffering lies in the lack of education (social awareness) about the ‘ego’ and how it controls our perception (without being detected).” –Anon I mus I particularly like this quote because so many of us are unaware of how the ego influences our thoughts, emotions, actions, and quality of life. For example, the site identifies the characteristics of the ego as: • It resists change (rigid) • It seeks approval from others; external validationrn• it lives in constant comparison to othersrn• it feels the need to be right from a mental standpointrn• thinks it is the separate doer of actionsrn• it believes itself to solely be the physical body/personality • it is conditionalrn• it promotes separation/exclusivityrn• it is shallow (has a need to impress others) • it does not trustrn• it is defensive (taking things personally); • it is co-dependent on peoplern• it repressesrn• it cannot love unconditionallyrn• it is possessivernand so on. You may be familiar with terms that have gained popularity lately like mindfulness, meditation, consciousness, the shift, etc.; they assist us on becoming more aware of the ego and its place in our lives. For example, in practicing mindfulness we become more conscious of our thoughts in our daily experiences. However, when we realize the ego’s part in where our negative thoughts originate from, we are able to experience a better result from being mindfully present. If that seems intriguing, confusing, or both – go to the website as it explains the ego in much more detail. I strongly encourage you to get out there on May 11th – participate in your community or even in your own home. Learn how to live the best and most peaceful version of yourself. Do something that will help you gain more awareness of your own ego, not only for one day of the year but continue raising your awareness moment to moment. Every day can be Ego Awareness Day!rnFor more information about the ego and the movement, visit www.egoawarenessmovement.org