#298 – How does the Ego cover up its fear?

The Ego fears two things: not knowing, and knowing it's wrong.

When it doesn't know, it floods you with second-guessing, flip-flopping, brain fog, or endless polling. Anything to prevent you from trusting your gut––out of the Ego's purview.

When the Ego knows it might have been wrong, it climbs onto its self-assigned Judge's bench and makes you feel one thing: regret.

Regret for the path not taken, the unfinished projects, the withering friendships.

I know regret very well.

Why did I leave my hometown Madrid and move to the US? Why did I leave a high-paying job in New York to come to Miami? Why did I move to Miami Beach and choose the primary care physician who referred me to the gynecologist my son had the fateful interaction with?

Why didn't I pursue my dream to become a writer?

Etcetera.

Nevertheless, regret is futile. Because regret implies that you know that that door you didn't open was good for you.

But, as the Taoist teaching questions, "who's to say what is good and what is bad?"

I'll tell you who: the Ego. The only entity in the whole universe with enough arrogance to believe it knows more about life than life itself.

What will be available to you when you quit regretting and start accepting the present as it is?

Love,

Carolina