Turn Over A New Leaf

Turn over a New Leaf by Learning to Let Go of Ego

A Few great quotes from A New Earth by Eckart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle is a staple reading and common tool used within the counselling field.

Identification with Things"No ego can last for long without the need for more. Therefore, wanting keeps the ego alive much more than having. The ego wants to want more than it wants to have. And so the shallow satisfaction of having is always replaced by more wanting."

"The ego identifies with having, but its satisfaction in having is a relatively shallow and short-lived one. Concealed within it remains a deep-seated sense of dissatisfaction, of incompleteness, of "not enough." "I don't have enough yet," by which the ego really means, " I am not enough yet."

"No matter what you have or get, you won't be happy. You will always be looking for something else that promises greater fulfillment, that promises to make your incomplete sense of self complete and fill that sense of lack you feel within."

Do You Want Peace or Drama
"Nonreaction to the ego in others is one of the most effective ways not only of going beyond ego in yourself but also of dissolving the collective human ego. But you can only be in a state of nonreaction if you can recognize someone's behavior as coming from the ego, as being an expression of the collective human dysfunction. When you realize it's not personal, there is no longer a compulsion to react as if it were. Nonreaction is not a weakness but a strength."

The Ego's Need to Feel Superior"Complaining is one of the ego's favorite strategies for strengthing itself. Every complaint is a little story the mind makes up that you completely believe in. When you are in the grip of such and ego, complaining, especially about other people, is habitual and, of course, uncounscious, which means you don't know what you are doing. Applying negative mental labels to people, either to their face or more commonly when you speak about them to others or even just think about them, is often part of this pattern."

"The ego also loves to complain and feel resentful not only about other people but also about situations. What you can do to a person, you can do to a situation: make it into an enemy. Resentment is the emotion the goes with complaining and the mental labeling of people and adds even more energy to the ego. Complaining as well as fault finding and reactivity strengthen the ego's sense of boundary and separateness on which it's survival depends. But they also strenghthen the ego in another way by giving it a feeling of superiority on which it thrives. Facts undoubtedly exist. There is no ego in telling the waiter that your soup is cold and needs to be heated up - if you stick to the facts, which are always neutral. "How dare you serve me cold soup..." That's complaining. There's a "me" here that loves to feel personally offended by the cold soup and is going to make the most it. The complaining we are talking about is in the service of ego, not of change. Sometimes it becomes obvious that the ego doesn't really want change so that it can go on complaining."

"Every ego confuses opinions and viewpoints with facts. Furthermore, it cannot tell the difference between an event and its reaction to that event. Every ego is a master of selective perception and distorted interpretation. Only through awareness - not through thinking - can you differentiate between fact and opinion."

Beyond Ego: Your True Identity
"Unconscious people – and many remain unconscious, trapped in their egos throughout their lives – will quickly tell you who they are: their name, their occupation, their personal history, the shape or state of their body, and whatever else they identify with. Others may appear to be more evolved because they think of themselves as an immortal soul or living spirit. But do they really know themselves, or have they just added some spiritual sounding concepts to the content of their mind? Knowing yourself goes far deeper than the adoption of a set of ideas or beliefs. Spiritual ideas and beliefs may at best be helpful pointers, but in themselves they rarely have the power to dislodge the more firmly established core concepts of who you think you are, which are part of the conditioning of the human mind. Knowing yourself deeply has nothing to do with whatever ideas are floating around in your mind. Knowing yourself is to be rooted in Being, instead of lost in your mind."

Instincts and how to hone them

This is a great photo that captures what happens when you don't listen to your instincts! How many times have you said to yourself, " I wish I had listened to my gut feeling.." or " I had a feeling this would happen..."

4 WAYS TO TAP INTO YOUR INTUITION

Meditate: By quieting your mind, meditation will train you to get in touch with your intuition. First, find a comfortable position. Close your eyes. Focus only on your breath. If thoughts arise - and they will - try not to dwell on them. ...

Use active visualization: This technique can help you learn to "read" people and situations. Close your eyes, quiet your mind and ask yourself a question about a problem you're facing.

Listen to your body: When faced with a choice, watch for your body's signals: Do you have a knot in your stomach? A lump in your throat? Does your heart ache? Or do you feel energized? At peace? Warm and glowing? Pay attention to the messages your body sends and take action based on what they tell you.

Remember your dreams: The trick to recalling your dreams is to make it fun. Buy a special journal to keep by your bed. Before you go to sleep, pose a specific question regarding a problem you're facing. By Judith Orloff MD

Trust your instincts and intuition

Instinct is IT

You have to become very still and listen while your inner voice -- the very essence of you -- tells you who you are. You'll know you've found it when every cell in your body practically vibrates; when you're filled up by what you're doing instead of being drained by it. Clarissa Pinkola Estes

To make up a dance, I still need, as I needed then, a pot of tea, walking space, privacy and an idea...
It takes hours daily of blind instinctive moving and fumbling to find the revealing gesture, and the process goes on for weeks before I am ready to start composing. Nor can I think any of this out sitting down. My body does it for me. It happens.
Dancer & choreographer Agnes De Mille - from her book Dance to the Piper

I definitely agree with a quote of Jean Houston when she says, "I think a lot of giftedness, though by no means all, has to do with having a broader palette of perceptual capacity, being highly sensitive to all the senses."
But I think it goes beyond the senses, as we know it. It's our ability to intuit the mystery. And it's through our capacity to intuit the mystery that we know cosmic truths about ourselves. And it's exactly the same thing as creativity. The psychic forces or the creative forces come through in exactly the same way, in that you have to be open and receptive to them if they come through, rather than effort or force anything. So it's a whole different way of perceiving than is simply through the analytic mind.
Judith Orloff, MD

Being bound to one's intuition promotes a confident reliance on it, no matter what. It changes a woman's guiding attitude from 'What will be, will be' to 'Let me see all there is to see.'
Clarissa Pinkola Estés

It's never too late to be what you might have been

For it is to be considered that this passion of which we speak, though it begin with the young, yet forsakes not the old, or rather suffers no one who is truly its servant to grow old, but makes the aged participators of it not less than the tender maiden, though in a different and nobler sort. For it is a fire that, kindling its first embers in the narrow nook of a private bosom, caught from a wandering spark out of another private heart, glows and enlarges until it warms and beams upon multitudes of men and women, upon the universal heart of all, and so lights up the whole world and all nature with its generous flames. It matters not, therefore, whether we attempt to describe the passion at twenty, at thirty, or at eighty years. He who paints it at the first period will lose some of its later, he who paints it at the last, some of its earlier traits. Only it is to be hoped that, by patience and the Muses' aid, we may attain to that inward view of the law, which shall describe a truth ever young and beautiful, so central that it shall commend itself to the eye, at whatever angle beholden. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fuel, and not the goopy black toxic kind

Fuel for the day
Many of us excel in one or a few particular areas in life. As such, we know exactly what we need to do to perform the best each time. If you are in to nutrition, you know that the types of foods, vitamins, and supplements you put into your body, largely determine how you are going to feel that day. If you are a surfer, you understand that the shape of your rocker, foam volume, blank, and foil are all going to determine how well you hang ten.

Just like these examples - life is what you put into it. Our happiness is not just some genetic poker hand we were dealt at birth. Yes, some can argue that each of us are equipped with a happiness set point, and some scientists theorize that one can only deviate within a statistical range of their genetic set point. However, there are many things we can “tweak” to raise our own set point throughout the day. Whether it's music, play, art, building, sports, hobby, fun - be sure to engage in at least one activity that you love each day.

Perceiving without Naming

Eckhart Tolle Teaches us about Learning how to be Present and Ego.
"This is most people's reality: As soon as something is perceived, it is named, interpreted, compared with something else, liked, disliked, or called good or bad by the phantom self, the ego. They are imprisoned in their thoughts. It is through this constant naming that the ego remains in place as the unobserved mind."

"Can you take the thinking out of the perceiving? Can you look at something without the voice in your head commenting, drawing conclusions, comparing, or trying to figure something out?"

Balance

Signs of burnout
Often, when burnout, people drive themselves harder to makeup for deficits emotionally, physical or otherwise. Denial that a problem exists is common; therefore, identifying signs of burnout is important to our emotional and physical health.

Five signs of burnout:
Irritability When a person feels out of control or unable to mange their life, work or family commitments as desired, they can become troubled. Often this is manifested in the form or irritation or aggravation. When burnout occurs, this state is more constant. You may lash out at co-workers or loved ones.
Trouble sleeping Being stressed out and have multiple deadlines or unfinished business, can make it difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep. Sleep deprivation will cause you to perform poorly.
Lack of energy As burnout creeps in, your energy level drops. A lack of caring or concern sets in, and productivity goes down the drain.
Concentration issues Problems concentrating are common with burnout. When faced with overwhelming schedules and tasks, concentrating can be difficult.
Emotional distress When someone is burnout, being overly emotional is common. For example, you may burst into tears over a seemingly minor incident. On the other hand, you can begin to isolate yourself, and show no emotion to varying circumstances. Either can lead to depression.

Overcoming Burnout

Overcoming burnout
Identifying burnout is only part of the solution. Overcoming burnout takes commitment and work on your part. Below are some practical solutions you can implement in your life to eliminate burnout, and enrich your life.

Five steps to balance:
Learn to say NO Over commitment is common, and a part of the reason people burnout. While it is important to please the boss, assess your current workload before saying yes to the next deadline. Perhaps you should allow someone else to drive the soccer team to and from games, or provide the snacks.
Get moving Putting exercise in your schedule can make a world of difference. Exercise helps eliminate stress, clears the mind and keeps the body fit.
Prioritize Assess what you are responsible for presently, and make a list. Evaluate and eliminate. Complete outstanding items that are most important or pressing, and delegate less important tasks to others as appropriate.
Get support A healthy, happy life includes people we enjoy being around; those that bring joy and positive support to our lives. Identify the people that make up your support system. Others are in our lives to help us, co-workers, family, friends, clergy and counselors.
Let go Learn to let go of things you cannot control. You cannot save the world. Let go of any guilt you may feel about not being able to do it all