1. Intro

Firstly let’s get one thing straight, everyone has an ego. A lot of people don’t realize this and it’s something I didn’t realize till only recently. I always assumed that the only time someone has an ego is when they are either egotistical or they have a big ego. You know the people that say things such as, “I am amazing in every single way and I can do anything I want cos’ I am amazing”. Generally they are the only times you ever hear of someone saying something about egos. You know, something along the lines of, “He has an ego the size of a house”.

2. The Ego is there all the time…

However this is not the case. Everyone has an ego and I mean everyone so don’t sit there and say, “You’re wrong, I don’t have an ego.”. You see by acting like that and saying such a thing means you have an ego. This is an exert from Wikipedia: “Originally, Freud used the word ego to mean a sense of self, but later revised it to mean a set of psychic functions such as judgement, tolerance, reality-testing, control, planning, defense, synthesis of information, intellectual functioning, and memory.” We all do these things therefore we all have an ego.

3. Trying to protect us

Although our egos try to protect us from failure, they in fact can be your worst enemy. Everyone tries to protect themselves and this is where the problems start. By trying to protect yourself, your ego will generally prefer to gloss over the finer details of reality to minimize conflicts while pretending to have a regard for reality. Basically it will protect you by glossing over any flaws you may have whilst thinking that it’s reality. This can lead to feelings of guilt, anxiety and inferiority.

4. Creating enemies

Last weeks Tuesday’s Psychology Session had a video posted about ‘ego’. One of the most telling things from that video is how we actually create all of our own enemies from within.

5. Your worst enemy

That’s why you ego is your worst enemy. What you think about yourself is what you project onto others. Therefore what you see as the worst traits in yourself you will see in those people who also portray them. You will therefore dislike that person because you see in them what you hate about yourself.

6. Realize your own flaws

One of the things you need to do is realize your own flaws. If you don’t really connect with someone then the chances are it’s because they remind you of the worst parts of your own ego, the parts that you don’t want to admit even exist. If you are able to change that perception of yourself then you will cease to hate the person. You will just recognize that you are projecting onto them in order to protect your own ego. Maybe once you realize this, your judgement of them won’t quite as harsh. An person who is truly content with themselves has very few enemies. They tend to go about their lives without much hate for others. This is because they are happy with themselves and thus their ego has no reason to create any enemies to protect them from.