OUR REAL COMPETITOR IS OUR OWN EGO.
To succeed at anything, we need the right attitude! In business or sport, this is known as a ‘winning attitude’. In business and sport the goal is to win, and for your competitors to lose. This is not the case in personal development.
In personal development the term ‘winning’ only encourages us to have a big ego. That’s the opposite of what personal transformation aims to achieve. Personal growth instead promotes an inner peace and service where everyone benefits. We all win.
In self-development, our chief competitor is not another person or team. Instead, the main competitor is yourself! In particular, it's a part of us that we term the ego-mind.
OUR FOE IS A PART OF US THAT HAS GONE ROGUE.
Managing our own mind is our greatest challenge! The ego part of our mind also has its own agenda. It will even try to undermine us. This self-sabotage can be difficult to spot and overcome. This can be a real challenge, but with awareness and focus, we are more than capable. As we strive to develop & transform, we overcome our mental blocks. These include bad habits and behavior ingrained from our familial upbringing. It also stems from past social conditioning, plus general propaganda & advertising from media sources. These fuel our inner saboteurs and encourage these ‘inner demons’ to wreak havoc. We can overcome all this resistance! If we don't, there is a subtle but relentless interference which undermines our success. We overcome our ego by watching our thoughts and taking back control of our mind! That's the right attitude to have, but it does require some practice. This practice is called ‘mind training’.
OUR EGO-MIND IS AN INVISIBLE ADVERSARY.
This mind training practice helps us overcome our past conditioning and our ego. Our ego-mind is the main competitor we face. It is a formidable foe! Few people fully overcome this invisible adversary. It is also hidden in plain sight! Some think that it's a fixed part of our personality. Others believe it has great benefits and so they don't want to change it.
…Do you want to take back control from your ego?
Having the right attitude helps in this inner battle. Remember, the ego-mind will not play fair or abide by any rules! It fights for control & superiority, as if its whole existence depends on this. And it does! It will subtly undermine or even openly attack any attempt to bypass its authority! So, what is the right attitude for personal development? What attitude will best empower our inner transformation? How does this work in practice?
OVERCOME PAST CONDITIONING & TRAUMA.
We aid our personal development by overcoming our bad habits & old ways. These have resulted from our prior social conditioning, education and life experience. We have adopted these behaviors and now take them for granted. So, overcoming this requires an attitude of awareness. We must first notice this invisible conditioning in order to address it.
So often a response pattern stems from childhood and is no longer optimal. So, we need to remain alert to this influence in our decision making. We double check that our current response is appropriate now, as an adult.
WE TRY TO DO WHAT IS BEST.
Most of the time we try to do what’s best for ourselves, our families and our society. However, the established social model for doing all this is not optimal. A ‘rogue’ system of values has also subtly been instilled in us, during our formative years. We call this our social conditioning. Our family dynamics are also an important component.
Through this conditioning, we have partially incorporated another agenda. We have embodied someone else’s idea of how our life should be. These values might not encompass our own true inner needs or values! We might even have learnt to suppress our own personal needs, for the interests of others. We may need to address this!
Then it gets even worse! Our subconscious mind or ego can then utilize this childhood conditioning & prior trauma. Our ego uses these ‘weak spots’ to enhance its control and extend its domain. It uses cunning strategies or tricks to keep our own inner needs suppressed.
PROCESS & RELEASE YOUR PAST TRAUMA.
We also need to release the past trauma we have suffered. These painful emotions can be deeply hidden or suppressed. Some are trapped in the deeper layers of our mind. So, we need to process & release these emotions, including the ones we have buried deeply or repressed! Some courage and an attitude of forgiveness is required for this.