Shedding Greed and Ego through “Goals of Goodness”
What situations bring our your animal instincts?
I’m proud to say that I went on my first Black Friday adventure last week, and to say it was a unique experience is an understatement. For those of you who’ve not had the honor of experiencing this for yourself, imagine after prom party meets sharks in a feeding frenzy.
When we entered the store at 3:58 am Friday morning I was immediately shocked to find that there were two different types of people there: those who became like ravenous wolves and lost all degree of civility, and those who remained courteous and shopped…while observing the wolves.
The Metamorphosis Exposed
What caused some people remain human while others turned into wolves? My answer: some allowed themselves to be dominated by their ego, and some remained fully conscious.
Black Friday is like an ego breeding ground. Why?...Because it’s so easy to justify our behavior. Our inner voice tells us that my actions are ok because, “I’m doing this for my children”, or “I got up at 2am for this”, or “I’ve been waiting for this for 6 weeks”, therefore we allow our animal instincts to take over and it’s every man for himself. Trust me, I’m not dogging these kamikaze shoppers because every single one of us falls into this trap from time to time. Heck, while was waiting in the parking lot waiting for the store to open I was watching the cars roll in. I caught myself thinking, “these people are going to get my stuff!”….then I had to chuckle at myself.
Observing the Wolves
These are inner wolves I’m talking about here….not the crazy people stampeding through Target in their pj’s. As our inner wolf, or ego, begins to arise within us there are several things we can do to tame it. First, we can remind ourselves that there’s never a rationalization for putting ourselves first. I personally believe this rule is absolute. I ask myself, “when’s the last time greed brought me an increase of true happiness?” The answer is obviously, never. Greed has only brought me an increase of suffering…..every single time.
Next, when we know we’re about to walk into an ego “perfect storm” we can spiritually brace ourselves. We can do this by setting a goal to show an increase of love and empathy when in the situation. Tell yourself, “If I get the last “xyz gadget” they have, and the person beside me seems like they really want it…I’ll give it to them”, or “I’m going to make sure I serve the children dinner first even though I’m starving”, or “I’ll stay up and read a book to the kids even though I’m dog tired”. It’s the times in my life that I’ve actually done stuff like this that have been my happiest moments…..notwithstanding, our ego will have us believe the opposite.
By reminding ourselves that greed is always bad, and by setting “goals of goodness” before tough situations, we diminish the role of the ego in our lives. In order to accomplish either of these tasks, we inherently have to become the observer of our lives which empowers us to step back and watch our feelings and emotions….this is the first step to shedding layers of greed.
Overall, I really enjoyed the whole Black Friday thing. Heck, I think I’ll make it a holiday tradition. The entertainment value alone was enough, plus we saved some serious bank!
When do you find you need to set “goals of goodness”?
