#2 bypassing YOUR ego’s resistance
Get ready to meet your higher self and unblock your limiting beliefs.
Your brain is a beautiful, powerful machine.
Much like an algorithm, your brain creates patterns of behavior based on how you respond to your experiences.
Some of these patterns are passed down through your DNA (when a lion chases you, you run) and others are created specifically from your experience (your classmates laughed when you cried in class, so you no longer cry when distressed).
Your brain has a LOT going on, so it wants to switch as many behaviors onto ‘auto-pilot’ as possible. And the manager of the auto-pilot feature is your EGO.
The ego’s job is to protect the algorithm of behavior that has been created for you. And it is VERY effective at its job.
To ensure your behaviors ‘stick,’ your ego builds an ‘identity’ around them. And then it creates a narrative: an advanced system of ‘beliefs’ and ‘judgments’ around your identity to strengthen its hold on you. These judgments are often expressed through ‘labels.’
ie. Your ancestor was ‘clever’ for outrunning the lion. You are ‘tough’ because you never cry. You’re ‘not a creative person’ because your pre-K teacher didn’t praise your imagination.
The problem with letting your ego run the show is two-fold:
(1) automated algorithms don’t serve you.
(2) if your identity currently involves being low in your self-worth, your ego will strive to keep you there.
Consider YouTube’s automated algorithm: you watch a 10 minute doc on WWII, you click on another WWII video that YouTube “thinks you’ll like,” and before you know it you’re face-to-face with a neo-Nazi propaganda video. YouTube execs aren’t feeding you propaganda. They may not even know it’s there. The algorithm is feeding you propaganda because it’s deemed ‘related content.’ But this content doesn’t serve you. This is where human intervention comes in handy.
And where our psyche is concerned, this is where mindfulness comes in handy—it is the voice in the dark that says, “wait, no, this behavior may have served me once, but it doesn’t serve me anymore. I’m going to correct-course.”
Here’s the catch: if you’ve established a pattern of being low in your self-worth, your ego will resist your urge to course correct. It will do everything it can to keep you low in your self-worth because it wants to keep everything the same.
Take note, though, that your ego is not your enemy. It legitimately thinks it’s protecting you. It wants to keep you safe. It believes the algorithm has your best interest at heart. Give it some empathy here. It genuinely cares about you. It’s just that in order to keep you “safe,” it will sling as many limiting beliefs and self-doubts as it can muster to keep you from changing course.
This is where people who have the very best intentions to uplevel their sense of worthiness often get thrown back into the dark. Your ego is powerful. Your limiting beliefs are powerful. Your self-doubts are powerful. Imagine walking through a room—your goal simply to get to the door at the other side—but as you make your way across the room, people step in front of you trying to convince you that the door is scary, that you are incapable of handling what’s on the other side, and that it’s pathetic to watch you struggle to get there. Would you make it to the door?? Or would you curl into a ball and ask all the voices to stop?
Bypass The Ego’s resistance
Making big changes to your patterns of behavior takes mindfulness and practice. It’s not a short-game.
BUT.
There is a way to trick the ego into thinking it’s not being threatened so you can begin to change your behaviors and build your self-worth on a subconscious level, which will supplement your mindfulness practice in a big way AND help you walk through the rooms of your mind without being harassed.
Enter: the archetype.
humans have been using archetypes since the dawn of our existence.
Why are you so drawn-in by characters in movies, television, and books? It’s because, for the duration of the story, you get to step into these characters’ shoes. You get to experience a new identity.
This sense of ‘stepping in’ is non-threatening to the ego—it understands that you aren’t the character in question, you’re just ‘trying on’ what it would FEEL like to be them.
And guess what? FEELING THINGS fires new synapses in the brain. FEELINGS actually disrupt the algorithm from behind the scenes. Because when you create a new feeling experience, the brain builds new behaviors based on that experience.
The ego doesn’t live inside your ‘feeling’ space. It lives inside your ‘thinking’ space. So your feeling space runs the show! Remember your ancestor who ran from the lion? They ran because they FELT fear. The feeling triggered the action which triggered the behavior.
And the more frequently you enter a specific feeling space, the stickier the resulting behaviors become.
Do you see where this is going?
Today we are going to meet a new character who will ignite new feelings surrounding your self worth.
Today you will meet your higher self. This is the version of you who is all-knowing, all-loving, and ultimately the embodiment of your wholeness. Your higher self knows everything you need in your life and how to get it. Accessing your higher self is like having your intuition on speed-dial.
By connecting with this archetype—your higher self—you build a new ‘feeling’ experience. One that is draped in wisdom and love and integrity. Your brain will begin to take the queue from your feelings and create new belief systems that are centered on these principles. Now that you are building life-serving (vs limiting) beliefs, your behaviors will echo those beliefs. You will always have direct access to your wisdom, your wholeness, your power. And you will act accordingly.
Here’s the best part: the more frequently you repeat this exercise, the stickier your new behaviors will become. And! Your ego will actually start working to protect your new life-serving beliefs!! Imagine having something as powerful as the ego on your side in a way that nourishes you.
This is how you build self worth.
listen
Write It Down
Strengthen your experience by writing down what it felt like. Remember, feelings drive thoughts, so focusing on your feeling-sensations will further cement this practice.
Describe what the garden looked and felt like to you.
What color was the light that radiated from within you, in response to the beauty of your garden?
What did your higher self look like? How were they dressed, what color are their eyes, etc?
How did it feel to be in the presence of your higher self?
Did you notice any resistance happening within this meditation?
If so, how and when did that resistance show up?
Were there are any beliefs or phrases attached to the resistance?
If you felt resistance, I encourage you to try this meditation again before moving forward to the next one. When it arises, stay with it, and try to ask it what it’s protecting you from. Once you have clarity on this, thank it for its service to you and move on to the next meditation with this in mind.
Where in your body did you ask for assistance from your higher self? How did it it feel when they shined light on your areas of discomfort?
What did you ask your higher self, if anything? Or what was the content of your conversation?
Were there any major takeaways you’d like to remember from this experience?
TAKE THIS WITH YOU
Here’s what I’d like you to try as you move through your day, week, or month:
If you notice yourself feeling triggered, reactive, or stressed-out, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and recall the sensation that you felt when meeting your higher self.
Remember that ball of light hovering above the crown of your head—can you take a few moments to imagine calling your higher self forth and asking them to support you through your trigger?
Notice what happens to the stressor when you take a few moments to connect with your higher self’s support.
How does this support make you feel?