I flew from Istanbul to Prague yesterday.
Do you see the featured image for this post?
I snapped that bad boy about 36,000 feet above Turkey as the sun rose.
Being a digital nomad is fun, freeing and a patient study in seeing your ego blind spots up close and personal.
Circling the globe for 12 years straight rockets me outside of my comfort zone from time to time. This is a good thing. Freedom, growth and expansion occurs outside of your comfort zone. Little good unfolds inside of this confining mental prison.
Turbulence
As we descended into a windy, blustery Prague the inevitable turbulence ensued. Frequent fliers know the roller coaster feeling of one’s stomach traveling upward into one’s throat.
I do not like that feeling.
But I also learned to somewhat gracefully work with the emotion as one of my ego blind spots. For a while, I denied it. I forced myself to look past it. But even with the clever ego trying its best to bury this fear….it is still there.
I see myself as someone who loves circling the globe. I give little thought to the fears I have put in my rear view window as a 12 year globe-trotter who owns a backpack, carry on, clothes for a week and nothing else; nomads travel with their possessions.
Most minds would be afraid to own no home, car or physical possessions outside of what fits into a backpack and carry on. I know; before I faced my fears I was one of those minds well over a decade ago.
Anyway, the world could applaud me for conquering a heavy volume of palpable, sometimes visceral fears. I let go the fear of losing a job. I released the fear of losing a home-house. I even appeared to release the fear of letting go living within a close proximity to family. Sure; some of this pining originates from a love that never asks but if you and I are being brutally honest with ourselves: why would you want to live close to your family unless you asked something of them and they asked something from you?
Love never asks.
Love only gives.
So yeah, conquering that fear revealed how a hefty chunk of family relationships seem built on the shaky foundation of fear, guilt and expectations, all of which have absolutely nothing to do with love, which only gives, never asks and lets everyone be as they are. At times, family members asked much of me and me of them; this was fear, and certainly not love.
But partially – or fully (not quite there with my family yet) – conquering each one of these fears held firmly by humanity still leaves one of my ego blind spot fears: I fear suffering through turbulent dips causing the stomach in the throat feeling.
Be At Peace with Ego Blind Spots
I am at peace with this fear. I am even being with it versus resisting it as the rises and dips ensue in rare but persistent enough turbulent conditions a frequent flier experiences.
The ego creates blind spots for you not to see yourself truthfully. If you believe its lies you live a lie. Living a lie feels exhausting; you spend precious energy propping yourself up to create some pristine appearance when in reality you are a shadow of what you claim to be.
Hi. My name is Ryan Biddulph. But that is an illusion. In reality, I am a mind but the ego creates a blind spot claiming me to be a body. Ditto for you, guys. All minds have ego blind spots to uncover until becoming 100% fearless or 100% love-based.
I fear turbulent dips. Instead of claiming to be an experienced flier with 12 years of flying under my belt who fears nothing in the air up there and loves the friendly skies I still feel discomfort on hitting those roller coaster highs and lows on planes.
That feels good.
I am being honest with you.
Practice no private thoughts and no people pleasing.
Be transparent.
Be Honest with Yourself
Being honest with other minds is the only way to uncover who you really are.
Being honest also inspires other minds to admire and follow your practice of exposing your ego blind spots versus covering up these damaging shadows that eat your mind up from the inside out.
Life does feel easier if you tell the truth and feels a helluva lot more difficult if you try to obscure ego blind spots.
Note the average Facebook post.
Well-meaning but scared minds post only the highlights of their lives without discussing their intimate fears on the social media site.
In truth, this practice fosters a sense of shame, embarrassment, grief, guilt and an overall sense of being a fake, phony and fraud.
Of course, who you really are can never be a fake, phony and fraud. You and I are unlimited minds joined as one.
But if you bury fear by trusting your ego blind spots you will suffer because you cannot get over what’s still in you.
By that, I mean that burying various fears like guilt, grief, shame and embarrassment allows these fears to grow under the surface. As the fears grow you continue to make unconscious choices based on guilt, grief, shame and embarrassment.
How do you think that life goes, when you make fundamental life decisions on feeling incredibly guilty, on being weighed down by grief, and by being embarrassed and ashamed to do something?
Genuinely, one of the best decisions I made with Blogging From Paradise was being far more transparent than most blogging tips bloggers as far as sharing the highs, lows, ups, downs and doing so in a conversational tone unappealing to search engines but deeply cherished by authentic human beings.
Being open allowed people to see me, feel me and trust me as a guy who blogs from the heart for humans versus doing so solely from the head for profit.
Face Your Ego Blind Spots Today
Isn’t it time for the truth to finally have its day?
Face your ego blind spots today.
Look at your mind in the light of truth.
What do you fear?
Feel it.
Face it.
Release it.
As a rule, the happiest minds practice this form of emotional hygiene on a daily basis…..even when mildly clinging to the armrest during turbulent conditions.
