Ego vs the Universe

I’M A FAILURE I’M HOPELESS WHY DO I BOTHER? I’LL NEVER SUCCEED IT’S TOO HARD!

Those stories we create in our minds are universal. We have all been affected by what we label as failure, whether it’s a commitment to something important, an exercise routine, breaking a bad habit or losing our way on a spiritual path. There are so many things in our lives that we can struggle with.

Our egos often have us thinking that it’s just ‘you’ that fails and takes particular delight in keeping us down and hiding the truth from us. The reality is that everyone crashes, and it’s OK — in fact, it might be a good thing.

The term ‘fallen over’, interestingly enough, gives us a hint of the metaphysical reasons behind it.

Literally, when we all stumble, the severity of the result can vary from a little shake-up to life-threatening event. In most instances, it’s not enough to seriously put you out but enough to send a shock wave through your system — it’s a reminder to be more mindful of the path before you.

The universe talks to us in many ways. It seems to me that figuratively tripping or falling over is a shake-up for the spirit. The universe has a way of helping and, if necessary, forcing you to realign things by creating opportunities to bring us back from our zombie state. Often, I’ve found that my failures are lessons not learnt and a chance to grow — it’s why I think the ego is so quick to attach gloomy labels to it.

Failure is like candy to the ego, and it’s rich with negative emotions — we hate it, fear it, and dread it; and when it does happen, we hold onto it, allowing the pain to dictate our path.

Understanding defeat is essential if we want to move past those dark feelings and start asking the bigger questions. It becomes clear that failing is not the problem here — it’s the resulting negativity that’s doing the real damage.

So, knowing all these things, what can we do when we find ourselves in the thick of it? I won’t lie and tell you it’s easy because it’s not, but here are a few things that I found helped me, and maybe they can help you too.