“Trying to satisfy your ego is like trying to drink through your ears.” – Alan Watts
Yesterday, we revealed exactly what makes a junk food “junk”:
It requires more energy to process that it provides.
(ie. instead of giving you energy, it steals energy from you)
Then we talked about how most of our thoughts are the same way:
ie. Mental junk food; idle chattering of the mind that rarely creates new insight, and steals our attention away from whatever is happening in the moment.
Junk thoughts, like junk food, leave us worse than they found us.
And, today’s point…
So do junk emotions.
As an example:
Think back to the last time you got a nice, fat ego boost…
Maybe you beat someone at something, or, even better, beat someone at something in front of a bunch of other someones.
The someone you beat was forced to give you respect, and the someones watching showered you with praise and approval.
Now think of how you felt immediately after:
Superior, dominant, “alpha” — like the real Top G you always knew you were meant to be.
And (admit it) you wanted more.
Meanwhile, the rest of society, those little drug peddlers, urged you onwards:
Yes, more! Be an even Top’per G! The Toppest!!!
So you, you little rascal — you started chasing the dragon.
Maybe you even made your whole life about being the “best”, getting to the very tippy top of the G pile.
But that dragon is a sneaky bastard.
Just when you’re feeling like the Toppest G, an even Topper G comes along and pops your ego balloon, leaving you feeling all deflated and wrinkly and flaccid.
Or maybe someone comes along and says you’re not even a G, you’re just an E or an D.
Or, sh*t, a C.
F*ck. That.
So you stunt on him too, only to run into yet another (another!) Rival G trying to steal your G status.
When does it end, you ask yourself?
And of course, the answer is:
It doesn’t.
Good old Alan had it right:
Trying to satisfy your ego is like trying to drink through your ears.
Or, we could say, like drinking salt water to quench your thirst:
The more you drink, the thirstier you be.
That’s how it goes for the Emotional “Junk Foods”…
Superiority, flattery, adulation, attention, dominance, status, bootlicking, proving dem haters wrong…
…Basically, all the sugary crap modern society has turned into a regular diet.
It might taste good for a moment, but it’ll feel like ass later.
And once you get a taste for the healthy stuff (beauty, appreciation, gratitude, love and light, yadda yadda) the junk will start to taste like ass, too.
Which, full circle, is how it goes with real food.
(once you start eating healthy, junk food doesn’t taste so good anymore)
And, with your thoughts.
(once the mind becomes clear, still and focused, idle chatter becomes pretty damn annoying)
What an analogy 🙂
Hope you enjoyed.
– T
P.S. A perfect clip to reinforce our point:
Why People Play Games In Relationships
People play games in relationships because they are addicted to emotional junk food.
Give it a watch and let me know your thoughts.
