Strategies to Overcome Ego

Ego is essentially the sense of being a separate being from the rest of the universe, which claims special attention or abilities, takes credit for accomplishments and blames others for what goes wrong. It can express just as easily as a sense of superiority or a sense of being injured, as a sense of importance or a sense of being neglected.

Here are several strategies that can help you avoid the traps of ego:

Avoid regret and pride

Do not feel sorry for anything you discover about yourself. If you feel sorry for your deficiencies, it also means you will feel proud of your good qualities. Both ways it just reinforces ego. Be grateful for what life or God gives you and aspire to be better.

Take the other's point of view

Recognize that the opposite point of view is also true. Every point of view has a truth in it. Learn to recognize the truth in the viewpoint of others. Learn to take their point of view and fully appreciate it. Truth is never a question of right versus wrong. Truth reconciles opposing views at a higher level - not by compromising but by seeing the greater truth of which opposing viewpoints are both parts. When you take a genuine effort to recognize the truth in another's point of view, you come out of ego and stop defending or asserting your own ego's position. In most cases, the other person immediately becomes much more open minded and reasonable. For more on this see Taking other's point of view.

Practice Silent Will

The ego always seeks to dominate or control others, even in very subtle ways. Therefore it is also super sensitive to being dominated. Whenever we give an idea or suggestion to others, the tendency is to raise immediate resistance. Instead, try to silently affirm what you want to suggest or propose. A silent affirmation in the mind, with or without actual mental words, is far more powerful than the spoken word. It directly reaches other people. Often they will express the very idea you are affirming as their own suggestion and be far more enthusiastic because they perceive it as their own. See also Silent Will.

Recognize the truth of Inner-Outer correspondences

It is a great spiritual truth of life that everything that comes to us from life (the universe) is a reflection of something in ourselves, some progress we need to make in order to become a better person. When you discover the way to read the correspondences, you gain the knowledge needed for mastery over the external environment by moving the inner keys. Life then becomes a wonderful mirror for self-knowledge and powerful support for your spiritual progress. Accept the spiritual truth that whatever characteristics we see and condemn in other people are there within ourselves. Instead of reacting to the behavior of others try to become more conscious of corresponding aspects of our own personality. It is especially true that the things which bother us most in other people are characteristics which we too possess but are trying to conceal from ourselves. For more on this topic: Inner-Outer Correspondences.