Contents
Step 2: “The first step to reach a goal is not to start walking, but to know where to go”
The 88 rungs of happy people
In this chapter of “The 88 Steps of Happy People” I invite you to learn to recognize which actions vitiate your ego and which make you better.
As you read the next 15 steps, your inner success is going to take a leap. You will not have to do absolutely anything, since the mere fact of being aware of the content that is in them will be responsible for that jump. The jump will occur thanks to increasing your knowledge about the tension between two concepts: the ego and the esencia.
Forget about all the definitions that you have previously known about both words. My definition of the two is tremendously simple, but tremendously useful. Our interior is not made up of one part, but of two. The essence represents the purest part, our light; the ego represents the most impure part, our shadow. And both are in constant tension with each other. I define both as the «Great Binomial», and the tension between them, as the «Great Battle».
One hundred percent of our thoughts, desires and actions part either from our part of light, or from our part of shadow. Attention to this that comes next. Every time that action, thought or desire arises from the light, more light is generated. And each time it comes out of the darkness, more darkness is generated. Because they are important to understand when we act from one or the other? Because everything that comes from the light, in the long run, produces peace, and everything that comes from the shadow, in the long run, produces suffering.
I propose an exercise. Cover with your hand the column on the right of the two shown below and try to guess where each of the wishes shown in the one on the left comes from. You just have to answer this question:
Ego or essence?
- Desire to be humble
- Essence
- Desire to appear humble
- Ego
- Desire to punish
- Ego
- Desire to educate
- Essence
- Desire to grow to improve yourself
- Essence
- Desire to grow to surpass others
- Ego
- Desire to give to help
- Essence
- Desire to give so that they give you back
- Ego
- Desire to acknowledge a mistake
- Essence
- Desire to justify it
- Ego
- Desire to be offended
- Ego
- Desire to refuse to be offended
- Essence
- Desire to remain resentful against someone
- Ego
- Desire to forgive and forget
- Essence
- Desire to understand a wrongdoer
- Essence
- Desire to condemn him
- Ego
- Desire to get angry
- Ego
- Desire to contain anger
- Essence
- Desire to be angry, irritated, or angry
- Ego
- Desire to tame them
- Essence
- Desire to tell a gossip
- Ego
- Desire to refuse to tell
- Essence
- Desire to pass judgment
- Ego
- Desire not to prosecute
- Essence
- Desire to rebel against what cannot be controlled
- Ego
- Desire to accept it
- Essence
Have you reflected on the answers? What conclusion do you draw? Surely the ego gives a lot of pleasure, but it is a destructive and ephemeral pleasure, and that the essence requires sacrifice, but it is a mighty sacrifice Because for every ounce of ego you trade in her, she gives you one of lasting happiness. And I assure you that this is the most profitable of all exchanges.
Absolutely all our intentions, motivations and aspirations can be classified as motivations that start from the ego or from the essence. The day I learned this, after acting incorrectly for years, my whole life and especially my inner success completely changed. Of course, for the better. The most curious thing is that, with all the material that all this is not, the area that benefited the most from it was precisely my material success, since Internal Success always has an external impact.
You have not realized it, but in less than five minutes it has taken you to read this Step, you have already given the most important step to conquer the ego. Which one? Be aware of their presence.
# 88StepsPeopleHappy
“The first step to reach a goal is not to start walking, but to know where to go” Anxo Pérez (@Anxo)
(If you have seen value in this Step 2, I invite you to share it with # 88PeldañosGenteFeliz)