Many approaches to peace—mindfulness, meditation—rely on silencing thoughts that stem from ego. In professional spaces, ego gets a bad rap too. Th

Do not kill your ego - by Vivek Kaushal

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2024-10-29 05:00:02

Many approaches to peace—mindfulness, meditation—rely on silencing thoughts that stem from ego. In professional spaces, ego gets a bad rap too. The best coworkers aren’t egoistic. So much so that the term is an insult. It and carries an aura of selfishness and self-obsession that’s seen as undesirable.

This always feels strange to me. Ego—our sense of self—is an outcome of our pre-frontal cortex and the default mode network. These are the most evolved part of our brain. Why suppress it?

When you have a strong sense of self and care deeply about identity, purpose, and values, you constantly measure yourself against your ideals. Ego keeps pushing you toward a better version of yourself, often reminding you that you’re falling short. This brings a natural discontentment, which is frequently misinterpreted as unhappiness.

Much of self-help and mindfulness practices focus on quieting this discontentment by silencing the ego. The most evolved part of consciousness gets muted so we can coast, uninterrupted by big thoughts, into a kind of peaceful stasis.

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