EXTINGUISH YOUR EGO!
As children, we all believe the possibilities are endless. We believe that we can do anything we want, we believe that 'failure' doesn't exist, and we believe in a spirit of adventure and exploration. As children, we dont think of how funny we look when we're dancing around, or how inept we are at running, or how incomprehensible we are when we're first trying to speak. We just DO. The lesser we know HOW to do, the more we are able to actually do!
The irony of knowledge is that as we grow up and learn more about concepts, the environment around us, different fields of study and much more, we become shackled by our knowledge. On one hand, we become overconfident in what we do know, refusing to accept something that contradicts our body of accumulated knowledge. On the other hand, we become unconfident about what we think we dont know, or cant do.
As a psychologist, I believe in the scientific mind and its stages of conscious development. I think I have studied so much about the neurological development of the mind, that I find it extremely hard to accept the spiritual "I" or life force energizing me. The brain is made up of chemicals, neurotransmitters, and electric currents between synapses. How can there be a 'spirit' or 'life force' that lies at the crux of human existence? My knowledge makes me skeptical. My knowledge or ' the layer of intellectual thought' makes me arrogant in what I do know, and incapable of accepting something contradicting it.
As a shy girl, I believe that I'm too self conscious to try my hand at a performing art. I try to avoid taking up opportunities to act or sing and prefer to remain backstage, doing what I do best- design costumes and organize events. I have set up barriers for myself, telling myself what I think I can or cant do. I believe that I am good at event organization or set design, so I put in a lot of hard work whenever I am doing these things. I believe that theatre is not for me, so whenever someone puts together a play, I dont even audition for a part. This is a self fulfilling prophecy, because my own incapacitating belief in my inability to act causes me to be self-conscious and reticent whenever I act.
This self realization, which seems highly crucial and impactful to me, has come out of my first session on self leadership.
I learnt about the significance of the 'ego' and its true debilitating capacity. My ego can shackle me, hold me back, demotivate me, decelerate me, and obstruct me from achieving true success. But only if I let it. My main learning from today's session with Anil Sachdev has been the importance of my "I".
I can do whatever I want, I can be good at whatever I want, I can stop worrying about what I cant do, I can have the wisdom to know the difference between the two.
As I start this journey on discovering self- leadership, I make a pledge to myself- to extinguish my ego. By decimating my ego, I hope I can harness the true potential of my "I", and use all my knowledge and capabilities to their full capacity. I also hope I can learn to accept and acknowledge the areas in which I won't be able to succeed, and have the insight to differentiate between the two.
I hope by the end of this course, I have...
The serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment