Is this Your Ego Talking or Your Inner Guidance?

Now that we know we have an inner guidance, we would need to investigate how we can distinguish between the voice that is called the “ego” or false self and the other faint voice, named the guided voice or true self.

The Ego is highly invested in survival:

First, we need to understand that the mind is a very advanced energetic system that is not only linked to the brain but also the body.  It is a form of intelligent energy that has been structuralized by consciousness.

The mind is part of the intellect, self-awareness and consciousness field of who you are.  Its main role is to help you think independently so you can have individual characteristics.  According to psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, the ego is an aspect of the personality of a human being.  The part that you naturally think of as “yourself” is the personality which has developed since you were born.  The personality is formed from the traits you acquired from your parents and from your experiences.  Many traits are mostly composed of beliefs and emotional reactions.  This collection of identities and reactions collectively comprise the ego.

Our ego is constantly responding to our life experiences, and all life experiences are created mainly by our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and beliefs.  The ego is highly invested in survival.  It does everything it can possibly conceive to make sure we survive in this world and works really hard to maintain control.  To put it in a nutshell, the ego connects us to the physical; the soul connects us to the spiritual.  The ego is all about me, seeing only the tree.

The soul is all about us, looking at the forest, the bigger picture.   The ego is often based on fear, control, and resistance, the other voice is based on love, truth, and the highest good.   The ego is constantly swimming against the current, while the soul sits back and floats with the direction in which life is moving.

Here are some specific examples to illustrate the difference:

• You are guided to feel uplifted, and to act from your heart.  Your ego likes to tear you down by repeatedly stating negative statements about your being.
• Your inner being guides you to start a business that will help many people.  Your ego urges you to start a business to be wealthy.
• Your inner voice guides you to forgive.  Your ego urges you to seek revenge.
• Your inner being guides you to help someone from your heart.  Your ego wants you to help, so the other can see you as a hero.
• Your inner voice is happy because you added value to your life, by looking inside yourself first.  Your ego thinks it needs success, status, and outer world material things first in order to feel good about itself.

Check your thoughts, are you using the words “I” or “You”?

Another way to distinguish easily whether you are guided by your inner voice or ego voice is to listen carefully for the words “I” and “you” in your internal dialog.  If you keep hearing sentences with I then you are being guided by your ego, and when you hear you then you are being guided by your higher self.

Ego:  “I need new designer clothes, so I can make a great impression on others.  They can tell that I’m successful if I can afford expensive things.”

Soul:“You are beautiful inside and out.  No matter what you have on, you carry yourself well, because you constantly radiate from your heart happiness and joy.”

Both internal voices are giving you a pat on the back, but one comes from a different angle, namely from love.

We always have access to both internal voices, they both co-exist.  Instead of seeing the ego and the soul as two separate entities, it is perhaps best to see them as a team.  Each has a specific purpose.

The ego, after all, is trying its best to sustain life; it is the part of our consciousness that has to deal with the everyday material things of life.  The soul, on the other hand, is trying to help you evolve into a better person.

The goal perhaps is to balance the ego and soul within us, so we can come to some understanding that we are here to fully embrace our human existence, to learn and grow with the help of our egos and our intuition.  Once we learn how to listen to our inner voice, our soul, we are well on our journey to finding our life purpose.