Managing the Ego by Balancing Humility and Pride in the Search for Meaning in Life

The Latin term for self is ego.  We each perform a 24/7 assessment of our lives: every event, act, and competition.  We compare where current performances stand with personal perceptions.  Innocent at first, within time, this process becomes self fulfilling.  We see what we choose to see.  Numerous ego defense mechanisms are employed to maintian this personal illusion.  Ego is not based on the reality of what others witness, but, rather on what we have chosen to believe.  In our search for meaning in life, managing our ego is paramount in the balance between humility and pride.

The Challenge of Life

Born self-centered and self-absorbed, we all react either consciously or unconsciously, to the need for survival and the desire for personal gratification.  From our first breathe of life, impulses surface as environmental situations are presented to us that challenge our very existence.  Resilience to such challenges is the key.  This primal level of survival concerns itself with self preservation and stimulation. Left completely unchecked, most of us will become self-serving, gluttonous, and lazy. 

Courage to Change

Never in the history of the world has there been a greater time for people to embrace a life of virtue. A life based upon time-proven values can be easily overshadowed by the clamor and turbulence of schedules and deadlines, of economic worries and stress, and of environmental and equality issues.  Virtue-based training must be re-established within our hearts so that we are able to positively influence the rising generation, the children of the Millennial Generation, a generation who will lead us to greater peace. Peace begins one individual, one family, one community, and one nation at a time. We must commit to change;  change that will enable us to see ourselves as we really are, to love ourselves as we really are, to cherish our fellow travelers for who they truly are, and to embrace the peaceful life we deserve.