“You cannot beat a river into submission. You have to surrender to its current, and use its power as your own.”
“I control it by surrendering to control? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Not everything does. Not everything has to. Your intellect has taken you far in life, but it will take you no further. Surrender, Stephen. Silence your ego, and your power will rise.”
“Come with me.”
-Dr. Strange
The Exercise to Silence Your Ego
If you don’t yet have one, establish a Dedicated Magical Notebook or Grimoire.
Write down one of your most persistent sub-personalities, inner voices, or egos. Describe in ten detailed sentences how it affects you, in ways you desire and ways you don’t.
What does it say?
When does it speak?
Does it offer suggestions or order directions?
What happens when you follow its advice?
Ignore it?
Argue with it?
Trust the voice without resistance?
Let the ego speak from your mouth without you (as the primary awareness) editing any of the words?
What happens when you defeat this ego and pretend it doesn’t exist?
What if you were to let it run free for the rest of your life?
What if it were to entirely disappear?
Types of Egos
The simplest types of egos are the “Angel on one shoulder, Devil on the other.” Sometimes they take on the face, voice, and vocabulary of someone you know, or respect. Sometimes they take on aspects of fictional characters or qualities like “the voice of peace” or “the voice of my anger.”
Get to know these energies. If you want a huge boost to your self-awareness, take the above questions as a template, and write out answers for every ego you can identify.
You will, eventually, run out. While you can open to the creative energies of the Universe and fill out answers for an unlimited cast of characters, be honest with yourself and only include the egos that show up on a regular basis.
This practice will help you realize… that you are a collective.
You are a “We”.
Stylistically, in written communication, those ellipses are the only way to indicate a pause intuitively, connecting with your right brain. If you’re listening to the audio version of this book, you’ll have experienced a pause in the narration. This is, of course, to allow a very significant concept to sink in. Heart. Lungs. Stomach. These all exist with their own agency— yet with intent, you can exercise your agency over them.
Each has its own intelligence, and because of your superior intelligence and control, you can, most of the time, override the intelligence of the various components of you.
Unify yourself.
Just like practicing breathing techniques can harmonize your heart rate and brain patterns, performing the above exercise can help you identify and integrate the various aspects of your personality.
💜💚💙💛❤
I love you.
I believe in you.
We are one.
