Stop, Drop & Roll: Dealing With Ego Fires

When living our lives from the ego's perspective, we think of ourselves as self-important yet might view our lives as meaningless and futile.  The world is a dark place, full of people and situations who are there to get us.  Every comment we receive we meet with a "how dare she" attitude.  We contest, confront, blame, point fingers...  We live so much out of the "fight or flight" mode that our adrenals are overworked and we suffer from chronic fatigue.  It's like we're so busy fighting fires that we don't even realize that WE are on fire, burning up to a crisp - too tight, too tense, too fatigued that we've given up on ourselves and our dreams.  Our Spirit feels tight in a body and a mind who are fighting too much.  We have lost our physical and mental flexibility.  We feel trapped.  Yet there are more fires to fight, and if we don't fight the fires, who will?  The world would perish if we weren't there to stop them...

Or would it?  Realize that you are the one starting those fires in the first place when you view situations and people from the ego perspective.

Are you ready to stop the fires, to feel refreshed and to start heeding the voice of Spirit?  What is it that you do when you realize you're on fire?  Stop, drop and roll.  Here's how it applies.


1.  STOP


The first thing you need to realize is that you're living in ego and acting out of ego-based fears, so stop it!  These fears manifest as thought and behavioural patterns such as:

• I'm not good enough
• Well good for her for having the courage to change jobs, but it's not for me.  I don't deserve this.  I'm not special enough.  I have too many worries.  If I stop working at this job that I hate, my whole world will crumble.
• I'll never make it.
• I'm not talented enough.
• I hate myself, and the whole world hates me too.
• How dare she cut me off in traffic.  I'll show her.  I'll tailgate her and give her the evil eye.
• OMG - did you see those earrings she's wearing.  I would never be caught with those.  They are completely ridiculous
• My son is going through something again, and I'm the only one who can help.  He is so powerless, I have to do everything for him.  He will never learn.
• If I weren't there, my Mom/neighbour/workplace would certainly crumble.
• I would do differently, but I will look ridiculous.

Do any of these sound familiar?  Take a deep breath.  Deeper than that - is your ego telling you that breathing deeply right now is ridiculous?  Stop it.  Breathe.  Raise your shoulders to your ears as you inhale, and let them drop down low as you exhale.  Again.  Good.  

Ego-based thoughts often appear to flatter you, to make you feel special or to defend you.  Yet all of these are temporary and don't contribute to your long-term wellness.  These are not loving thoughts - not for yourself or others.  They feel disempowering to you, and contribute to your disempowering actions toward others.  Energetically, these thought-feelings are dense and heavy.

Take a moment a state one of your fears or ego-thoughts aloud.  Feel it in your body - do you feel energized?  Empowered?  Light?  Probably not.   Where do you feel the heaviness, the sadness, the pain?  OK - you're on your way to recognizing the voice of ego.  The more you practice and become aware of ego's voice, the easier it will become to stop yourself in your tracks.

From now on, every time an ego-based thought enters your mind/body awareness, remember to STOP, and breathe deeply from your belly.  

2.  DROP

Imagine for a moment that you're in the middle of a field, and there are several small bush fires all around you.  Even the hem of your pants have caught fire.  Yet you're still running around actually spreading more fire because your efforts are disorganized and don't go to the root cause of the fire.  These fires have names:  your mother, your father, your children, your studies, your job, your partner, your finances...   Not knowing what else to do, you are running around with torches and extinguishers. 

Finally, you remember to stop - but you still have the torches and extinguishers in your hands.  What do you do?  Drop them.  Stop contributing to the fires.  

You'll have to train your mind and ego to work with you here.  Once you've stopped and taken a deep breath, open your hands and shake them out as you say "DROP!"  This is a very basic neurolinguistic programming technique: with the action, you are training your body to train your mind and thoughts that you are shifting to a new paradigm.  And don't let your ego tell you that you'll look ridiculous doing this in the middle of the grocery store.  To the onlooker, you're only shaking your hands, so drop that defensive stance too.  

After some practice, you may find that your dropping even bigger pieces that ego had build around you.  You'll get to the root of your thoughts and behavioural patterns - a rule you've learned as a child, a painful experience earlier in life, a need for approval at any cost, lack of self-love...  Drop the fear, the masks, the familiar chaos.  Open your hands and allow for Spirit to take it away for you.  Allow for Spirit to give you new coping tools and to fill you with Love, with compassion, with forgiveness.  

You will begin to experience a higher awareness of your spiritual self, and the voice of your Inner Wisdom will become stronger.  Your willingness and ability to follow the promptings of your Spirit will increase.  You will feel more peace, joy and contentment.  As you shift, your relationships will also shift.  You will be ready to Roll with Spirit.

3.  ROLL

You caught yourself in the middle of an ego thought - you stopped, took a deep breath and instructed your inner knowing to drop it.  The next step is to roll.  With your body, do a shoulder roll, a neck roll, a hip roll (a figure-8 with the hips feels really good).  Breathe again.

Ask yourself now - what would my Spirit rather do or say?  And listen carefully to your inner promptings.  If these promptings feel dense, heavy, angry, frustrated, or confused; if your body feels tense and tight (check your jaws, hips, heart area) - then it's not your spirit talking, it's still ego trying to get through.  Start over from step 1.  Once your guidance feels loving, clear, light, open...  then you'll know it's your spirit talking.  So roll with it.  Your ego mind might say it doesn't make any rational sense, but you're at a place now where you can choose to roll with Spirit, above the fire instead of causing careless fires.

***

As the bear says, "Only YOU can stop forest fires"...  the same is true of your ego fires.  YOU have to choose differently.  If you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you got.  You deserve a life of peace, self-love and harmony.  

I love you, and I can see your beautiful spirit fully empowered gracing our wonderful world with its Light.  I can help you see the same in yourself and others.  I believe in you, wholeheartedly.