After reading "Wake Up to the Joy of You" by Agapi Stassinopoulos, she comes up with an interesting chapter about how an ego can be beneficial to one's interactions with the world around them and their sense of self. Before reading the chapter "Make Your Ego Your Ally", I only thought that having an ego meant you were self-absorbed.

It never dawned on me that something positive really came out of having an ego.

Stassinopoulos brings forth her knowledge by mentioning that once you perceive other's egos as a tool, as well as your own, you are then able to achieve a more balanced way of living. This means that once you are aware of the concept that sometimes people mistakenly put their egos in the "driver's seat", as she puts it, you are capable of understanding why they act the way they do.

By understanding that our "egos are our motivators" and nothing more, we are able to stay in touch with our souls, rather than who we may think we are. In society, we have a bad habit of only seeing ourselves as our personalities, our ranks, our physical appearances.

Over time, I have learned that we are so much more.

Stassinopoulos also makes a point to say that we are able to control our perception of ourselves before our ego does. We can either become deflated, meaning we would allow others to step all over us. Or we could become inflated, meaning that we would become a false impression of ourselves, overruled with negative qualities such as greed and jealousy.

We could come to terms with the idea that our egos can serve us in times of need, such as job interviews, dating, or just building relationships in general. We have to find a happy balance between having confidence and humility.

We can't be so full of ourselves that we lose the true focus on what we are trying to achieve in our lifetime.

Who do you truly see when you look into the mirror?