Notice how your thoughts are mostly about you. In an attempt to perpetuate this you and inflate or deflate it, the egoic mind is forever comparing this you to others, checking to see how it measures up. Many of our thoughts are evaluative and judgmental because that’s how the self-image is maintained. The ego’s job is to maintain the sense that we exist as a separate entity, and most thoughts serve that end, hence, all the thoughts about I. The mental world is a world of me, me, me. You’ve undoubtedly noticed.

Negative thoughts, in particular, serve this end by getting us involved in trying to fix or improve something for the I. Negative thoughts generate feelings, which generate activity. They become the reason for taking action, and they end up structuring our life. They keep the story rolling along. Negative thoughts are particularly effective in maintaining the sense of I because we get hooked into believing that the egoic mind will save us from trouble, problems, and difficulties if we listen to it. What we often don’t realize is that the egoic mind created the problem in the first place, simply by defining it as a problem. Problems give the egoic mind something to do, and they give the ego a reason for existing.

A simple example of this would be the belief, “I have to get this done before I go on vacation or I won’t get a raise.” That belief gets you very involved in planning how you’ll get what you need to get done, wondering if you’ll get it done, being afraid of not getting it done, and thinking about what will happen if you don’t and what’s happened in the past when you didn’t get something done. Now it seems like you have a real problem on your hands. Then the ego tries to help you by giving you advice, pushing you, admonishing you, and scaring you. The ego creates an artificial goal and then makes that goal more important than it actually is. Doing that gives the ego a sense of being more important than it really is. And that gives it, and you, lots to do.

Another example, using a more long-standing negative belief, is the belief, “I’m not good at making friends.” That belief, like many negative beliefs, can be a self-fulfilling prophecy: If you believe it, you probably won’t try to make friends, and your self-image will be reinforced. Instead of being true, most negative beliefs actually create the situation they describe. That’s why it’s said that we create our reality: Our beliefs determine our reactions to life and our choices and therefore our experience; and our experience reinforces our beliefs.

Once you realize that that’s what the egoic mind is up to, you can choose to listen to its version of you and of life or not. Before seeing this, the tendency was to accept the mind’s version of you and your life as true, or at least to accept it as your version of things. Now you see that your thoughts are only a story, just one of many possible stories. They have nothing to do with the real you.

From Return to Essence: How to Be in the Flow and Fulfill Your Life's Purpose by Gina Lake

Copyright © 2007 Gina Lake. All rights reserved.

Return to Essence can be purchased on Amazon.com or as an e-book at http://www.radicalhappiness.com/return-to-essence

Gina Lake is a spiritual teacher who is devoted to helping others wake up and live in the moment through her many books, counseling, and intensives. She has a master's degree in counseling psychology and over twenty years experience supporting people in their spiritual growth. Her website offers information about her books and consultations, free e-books, book excerpts, a free monthly newsletter, a blog, and audio and video recordings: http://www.radicalhappiness.com.