Reality and Being Who You Are - Pride and Ego

In the silence of the night, when the world is sleeping, and we are lost in our thoughts, we are able to connect with that part of ourselves that tells us who we are. We understand our own passions and desires, our limitations and our goals. Yet somehow, we are not able to fulfill those dreams and live fantastic lives.

As people, we tend to listen to the negative forces, both within and without, and allow them to suppress our potential. We know that character makes us who we are. This character is built over many years and yet can be destroyed in a single instance.

Pride and Ego

These are limiters on what we do with our lives. They are boundaries and guidelines that keep us in check and stall the potential that exists in each of us. Past experiences and current beliefs either increase or decrease those limiters. In other words, we are held back only by ourselves; by our ego and pride. A decision you know to be right, and would be highly beneficial to your life is rejected because you cannot bring yourself to do something necessary to achieve that.

Our inner voice tells us who we are. When it cries out that you should do this, and you can achieve this goal or that goal, that is the real self speaking. It tells us to take risks. In truth, those actions are only considered risks because the pride and ego limiters of experience have taught us, much like Pavlov's Law, that we cannot do something or that trying will accomplish nothing. The inner voice speaks to you without inhibition, and tells you what you truly believe you can do. How do you take that risk and become the person you know yourself to be?

Personal and Community Reality

As in any endeavor, we have work towards the goal. We will not wake up one morning and be who we really are, unless we take actions and steps to achieve it. We simply give it attention. Terms, such as "getting back to reality" are harmful to the process of being whom you are. There is what can be considered a personal reality and a community reality. The community reality is that which is of this world. The existence of other people, countries, and beliefs are part of that reality. The laws that we follow are part of that reality. The personal reality is the one that limits your existence within the community reality.

Waiting on a perfect moment to make decisions regarding your life limits your potential to be who you are. Simply, start being the person you desire for yourself. Let that inner voice guide you. In any decision we make, we often say, "my heart tells me to do this, while my head tells me to do the opposite". In this scenario, your heart is the inner voice. It is telling you to take risks that your head (along with your ego pride and experience) is telling you that you cannot. Can you truly ever be happy, and be your real self, without taking the risks to follow your desires? Realizing we deserve something allows us to be who we are. You stop waiting for that perfect moment and start reaching for what we desire.

Denying yourself the things that you know will make you truly happy goes against being who you really are. Take a step back and examine why you block those feelings and deny what you know to be true? It is not always the case of pride and ego that limits us, but certainly by removing pride and ego and admitting that you have made bad choices before, will allow you to recognize that you have kept yourself from making a good one today. Becoming the person you know yourself to be, simply means standing up and making a concerted effort to not continue making the same bad choices based on the same bad past experiences.