#317 – Whose standards are you measuring your life by?

Comparison is the Ego's main expression. It decides whether you're safe or not depending on where you stand in regard to others.

It measures your "resources" (re: beauty, money, thinness, youth, you literally name it) against others' and gives its verdict: more than others? You're safe. Less? Hm, it depends. The least of all? Danger! The most of all? Victory!

This morning, as I was changing into my gym clothes, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. A half-baked thought appeared in my mind. Something about the thickness and tightness of my thighs and knees. I heard some sort of "should"––you should be fitter, maybe, or younger.

Immediately, I countered: compared to what?

The Ego got quiet. I finished putting my socks on and left for the gym, leaving the thought behind.

At the gym, before starting a set of overhead squats, the same thought appeared. Compared to what, I asked again. And again, it got quiet.

That's when I realized it: anytime I hear a should, it's because I'm comparing reality with something that's not. And because the grass is always greener elsewhere, my reality loses every time.

I become unhappy because I lose my peace.

I may have found the antidote for the Ego's pesky habit: ask, compared to what?

What comparison will you stop engaging in so that you quiet your Ego?

Love,

Carolina