Buddhist wise men and women say;
The path to spiritual fulfillment lies in knowing how to build a healthy ego,
while at the same time developing a part of oneself completely foreign to the ego.
Over the last 3 days, I have made many attempts to write the opening of my first newsletter. I wrote, deleted, wrote, deleted, and only thought and thought some more. Finally, under the curse of what we will call “writers block,” I took a break to walk my dog. As I watched her run insanely around, I realized that she had it right! All day she waits patiently for one of us to ask, “Want to go for a walk?” She trusts that the one thing she wants most will come. Nothing else matters, other than the sound of food going into the bowl. She doesn’t wonder and obsess all day. She doesn’t think about the other dog next door, she doesn’t compare her coat or leash, and doesn’t ponder about the dog she met yesterday and their interaction good or bad. Stella never wonders if we love her unconditionally. Okay, maybe understandingly a few conditions, like no barking, no doing her business in the house… you get the picture. But most importantly, she never asks herself, “Why?” She doesn’t worry or try to control her environment or future.
I realized she doesn’t have an Ego.
She is a being instead of a doer.
Then it occurred to me once again: my Ego had taken control. I had become a human doer. I wasn’t working from the heart or sharing from my true essence. I was trying to write the perfect opening. The one that reaches everyone, the one that says exactly what everyone needs to read in order for you to want to continue to the end. I was living in a place of Ego, an Ego that wasn’t in-line with my heart. I was resisting. I have spent the last 15 years or so of my life trying to figure out the meaning of life. Although I still don’t know it, I do know how to Live Life with the Least Resistance or at least recognize when I’m not.