Ego Awareness Meditation

Take a seat in a quiet place where you feel particularly safe. Sit tall with your spine long, your shoulders relaxed, and your belly soft. Close your eyes or gaze low at the floor. Maintain a level chin for a neutral spine.

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Breathe gently in an out through your nose. Release thoughts of the past or future, and turn your awareness toward the present moment. Notice the movement of breath through your body to help get grounded and settle further into your seat.

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Turn your attention toward your thoughts. As if a cat waiting outside of a mousehole, wait for thoughts to cross your mind. You are the cat, or awareness, watching for your thoughts.

 

Notice the topic of your thoughts. Stay present with your thoughts long enough to notice repeating thought patterns and topics. 

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Now begin labeling each thought as fear or love based, ego or spirit based. 

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Pause the meditation for 5 minutes to continue focusing on thoughts and the ego or spirit field from which the thought emerges. 

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Now expand your awareness to include your emotions. Include awareness of body sensations that may be related to your emotions. 

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Now become aware of emotions following your repeating thought topics. Become aware of the emotions that follow your repeating thoughts. Notice the cause-effect pattern of ego based thoughts leading to painful emotions, and spirit based thoughts leading to peaceful emotions. 

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Pause the meditation for 5 minutes to continue focusing on the thought-emotion patterns. Notice your most prevalent painful repeating thought-emotion, or ego, complex.

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You are the awareness of the thought-emotion patterns. You are not your thoughts or emotions. You are the cat watching for the mouse. 

 

Remember that you are awareness.

Infinite, spacious, and free.

Identify with that limitless awareness as you slowly open your eyes.

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After the meditation,  do some journaling on the topics below:

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Are the emotions following your thoughts aversive (anxiety, fear, sadness, angry) or attractive (joy, happy, loving)?

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Write down the most prevalent aversive (painful) thought-emotion ego complex you noticed.

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Contemplate the qualities of this thought-emotion ego complex. What is at the core of your fears? 

 

Are your thoughts about future accomplishment or past regret? About protecting or defending yourself in someway?

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How is this complex related to defending yourself or acquiring material possessions? Are fears or judgments of other people included?

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Notice how your thought-emotion complex might feel familiar. When have you had this experience before? When is your first experience of it? What might be the purpose of it in the past?

 

As you go about your daily activities, keep some awareness on when this ego complex returns. 

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