Every once in a while, I get really, really, really caught up in my goals. Sometimes it’s because I am so very excited about them, I’m on the edge of my seat — like I’m watching a basketball game or exciting movie — I just can’t wait to see whether my goal will be met, and how.
Sometimes, though, it’s just the opposite. I don’t know what my goals should be; and it feels like no matter how hard I strain my intuition, my logic, or my emotion, I just can’t figure out what I ought to be doing with my time. My old goals that fired me up a month ago seem lifeless or petty; and all the new ones I come up with seem boring, or too ambitious, or out of character for me, or inappropriate somehow.
When I’m in this state, it’s like I’m deaf or blind. I’m so wrapped up in my worry, I can’t really hear music, or see the colors in the sky or the trees. I can see them — but I don’t. It’s like I’ve forgotten how.
Either way, I end up thrashing around rudderless and graceless until I catch myself up short. “Whoa, Nelly!” I say to myself. “Slow down before you hurt somebody.”
Your Ego is Screaming
I’ve let my ego take over. It’s talking so loudly, I can’t hear anything else. Either it’s totally self-absorbed in chasing its little goals, or it’s afraid of picking the wrong goals, and its fear is making it deaf.
And in both situations, the solution is the same: put the ego to sleep for a while.
Yes, it’s true that you can use magic, the Law of Attraction, or intention manifestation to place an order with the universe and get your heart’s desire; but it comes at a cost. It takes soul energy, emotional force, spiritual power. And ultimately the ego can’t provide that energy. It has to quiet down and get out of the way so that you can pull that energy from its true source, Spirit.
Distract the Child
So, how do you shut down the ego? The simple answer is: think about something different. Think about anything at all, as long as it’s not yourself and your goals. Pick your favorite hobby, and concentrate on that for a week. Do something that takes you out of yourself.
Sometimes that’s all it takes. A week spent riding your bike, washing your car, catching up on old friends, building model trains, reading something funny — and the fog lifts.
Sometimes, though, it’s not so easy. If achieving your goals is really important to your ego, it’s not about to let go without a fight of some sort. If creditors are knocking on your door, or your marriage is falling apart, or you’ve been diagnosed with something life-threatening, trying to distract yourself with stamp collecting just isn’t going to do the trick. And of course, that’s when you need direction from Spirit most.
In these cases, the best thing I’ve found is a little bit of mental jujitsu from Buddhist meditation. It’s called “the loving kindness meditation”, and like a brilliant martial arts maneuver, it takes the energy that’s been pouring into your ego and redirects it away from yourself, toward the Universal Soul, so that you can be empty and quiet enough to receive instructions from Spirit.
The way it works is deceptively simple. It is not a visualization meditation, although one could easily be developed around it. It is a simple set of affirmations.
How to Do the Loving Kindness Meditation
Get comfortable, in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. Put the words of the meditation — which I’m about to give you — on a piece of paper and keep it handy. (Alternatively, you can click here to download an mp3 of me guiding you through the meditation, and listen to that.) Take some deep, calming breaths, and relax your whole body.
Now you can start. Begin by affirming your love for yourself:
I love myself.
May I be free from anger.
May I be free from sadness.
May I be free from pain.
May I be free from all suffering.
May my body be healthy and strong.
May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be happy.
May I be at peace.
These are words that you can affirm and be in tune with even if you are drowning in egotistical fear. And the wonderful thing is that by focusing your attention on love, goodwill, and healing, you divert the ego’s attention away from fear; and as soon as that happens, the ego begins to lose its grip on you.
Then you expand your love and compassion out to your friends and associates:
I spread this loving kindness out.
I send love to those who are dear to me.
May they be free from difficulties, free from pain, free from sadness.
May they be free from anger and ill-will. May they be healthy and happy. May they be at peace.
I send loving kindness to my friends and associates.
May they be free from difficulties, free from pain, free from sadness.
May they be free from anger and ill-will. May they be healthy and happy. May they be at peace.
Now the ego’s attention is directed away from itself, towards the ones you love. As you imagine their happiness, your attention is drawn further away from yourself.
As the meditation proceeds, you are pulled further and further away from your personal troubles and desires, out beyond the edges of the universe to the limits of the imagination:
I send love and kindness to all the people of the world, known and unknown, everywhere on earth.
May all on this planet be free from suffering.
May they be free from grief, pain, and despair.
May they be happy and at peace.
May all beings in the universe be free from suffering.
May all beings in all universes, everywhere, be free from suffering.
May they be well, and happy, and at peace.
May all beings of all kinds, in all directions, be happy and at peace.
Above and below, near and far, high and low.
All types of beings.
Humans and non-humans. Seen and unseen. May they be happy; may they be at peace.
I open my heart and receive loving kindness of all beings in return. I let that love into my heart.
May all be well and happy.
May there be peace.
By the end of the meditation, your egotistical fear-energy has been flipped on its head, and your heart is filled with compassion and peace. As with all meditations, if you practice it enough, it becomes completely instinctive. You can backflip from ego-driven fear to universal compassion in just a few seconds. It practically gives me whiplash, and sometimes I have to sit down!
And then the messages from Spirit will start to flow again. It may be directly related to the meditation — you may be inspired to find ways to turn that compassion into action by helping others in some new way. Or it may be indirect — a chance word from a friend, the fall of a shadow on the wall, or nothing at all, may find its way into your heart now that it is open; and the colors in the world will come flooding back.
Druid Journal 
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