I felt the need to clarify something that I have seen people misunderstanding: Your ego isn't your enemy. It's actually technically how you interact with the space time continuum. You *can not* exist in physical reality without an ego. If you think you've completely killed it you've actually shoved it into your shadow and that's why people who go on about their one and done ego death also have a striking alter ego that's running their life behind their back. It's how you navigate the world - all the way down to your body. It's the character you play. 

Now, that being said the character you play can be made up of authentic pieces of you, or of negative beliefs you were given when you were programmed for this life in your childhood. I like to think of all these pieces technically being you because they're actually twisted aspects of self, but I digress; it's the inauthentic pieces which have understandably been conflated with the ego. But it's also the authentic pieces of you that have been too. There's many different definitions going on, which is the source of the confusion. The paradox here is that they're still one in the same.

The parts of you that get offended, snap back at someone, or resist the flow of your reality (see: suffering) - they're ego. Not in the arrogant or “egotistical” way necessarily. They're part of the character you're playing - they're technically part of the inauthentic character though. Any time you're triggered that's your current chosen character seeing an aspect of itself that it doesn't like and wanting to murder it in some way. It's like a bird attacking its reflection in the mirror. 

The genuine parts of you that shine brightly for others to see; they'll often get attacked by others or ourselves as being egotistical or arrogant too. You're up on a stage lavishing the attention of the collective while doing your chosen art? That's *not* egoic - at least not in a negative way (if there even is such a thing as the dichotomy of good and bad). It's healthy to embrace the attention of others on any scale, if you're living your passion for it. We're not all here to hermit away behind the scenes. But it's okay to do that too, if you're called. Maybe, like me, it's both. It's about following your heart-centered inclination moment to moment.

[Side note: if you're someone who kicks back when they see someone reaching out for attention (even if it's obvious to you that they're *just* doing something for attention & not actually living their truth), it's because there's a part of you that needs your attention - and maybe the collective's too.]

Now when we first start alchemising the self (usually via Tower moments, including etheric ones like that bad trip one time), it feels like being completely reborn out of the ashes. It's glorious. We realised we don't actually want to date that person we've been karmically rotting with for 4 years, and we want to move on now. But you know - with bloodshed trying to fight it out of our consciousness because “hey, I thought this one was going to be the one and all my physical stuff is mixed in with their physical stuff". But it's not that you're a fully purified being now, you just did a whole chunk at once. It's a RE-birth. As in now you're a new character because you're substantially different to the old one. So you do have an ego. And you'll have a billion more in about half a second, technically. But the ones you really feel and are monumental to your journey, they'll keep coming. And that's a good thing. And I promise they do get easier each time (on average). 

The ART of life is dancing with that ego, having a healthy relationship with it. Reparenting it. Restoring it. Refining it. Resting it. Decorating it. Redefining it. Embodying it. 

Embrace your Ego. It's you.