One of the suggestions Eckhart Tolle made was to deliberately pull back the eager ego (my inelegant interpretation of his elegant words). What he meant was to look for opportunities to hold back from being "right", clever, to shine or to evoke admiration.
Yesterday I had a conversation with a woman who is concerned about a mutual friend who has cancer. I noticed how eager I was to let her know I had visited this woman, taken her prepared foods and driven her to hospital appointments. I definitely would have revealed all this in the past. But why did she need to know that? Telling her would have been taking credit and I could see this in the moment, so I held it back. It felt better to let the gift of caring stand solely on its own merits and let myself withdraw from a need for "strokes" from my friend on the phone.
This is practice in following spirit over ego, and I'm so happy to discover such a simple but empowering practice. Thanks to Tolle, once again.
About Me
- elly jackson
- Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- I am a Boston, Massachusetts-based Wedding Officiant and Celebrant; I also do free-lance writing, editing, teaching and coaching writers.
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