One of the fastest shortcuts to peace and happiness is understanding that you are not your thoughts. Eckhart Tolle says, "The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated." In other words, when you 'disidentify' from the thoughts in your mind (similar to seeing the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other), you realize your real identity transcends thoughts and your negative beliefs can just melt away to make room for consciously-chosen positive beliefs. Your mind then becomes an advocate, rather than an hindrance, to joy.Let's go back to the cartoon-based philosophy of the devil and the angel on each shoulder. I don't believe our thoughts are really that oscillated and obvious. If they were, they would be much easier to disidentify from. I believe our thoughts are much more subtly delivered via the ego or our intuition.The ego reveals itself in many different forms: the shoulda, coulda, woulda mantras, the scolding voice that you hear when you mess up or attempt to be vulnerable,  the devil on our shoulder. It's got itself a bad rep in the spiritual and emotional realms. But it's a very misunderstood part of ourselves.You see, the ego isn't just the ruthless critic in our brain. And its more than just our vanity and pride. It's more like our puffed up, overprotective bodyguard. It's attempting to save us from pain (real or imagined) and help us retain our identity.It is the ego's job to protect us from getting rejected. Socially and emotionally. It says, "You can't apply for that job. You're not qualified. You'll fail! And then you we be a failure!" Or it says, "If you stand up for yourself, he will definitely leave you. Don't rock the boat. You will end up alone forever." Or even, "You gonna let her talk to you like that?! You better remind her who's the boss here!" The underlying message is to defend and protect your identity regardless of how miserable it will make you in the long run.When the ego runs the show, we live our lives running away from rejection and hunting down potential sources of pain before they can even show up.  The ego thinks it is delivering us from evil but it actually takes us to the land of regret and sorrow.You know that one thing you haven't said or done because maybe... juuuust maybe, people will think you're a cry baby, a bitch, a weirdo, etc? Well, that's your ego future tripping and catastrophizing. You can be sure you're in your ego if you feel fearful. The ego represents the lowest vibrational emotions we can experience such as victimhood, grief and lack. It can not coexist with love, gratitude and abundance. The voice that speaks in positive emotions is called intuition.Intuition is the unreasonable burst of thoughts that says, "go there," "do this." Just a brief, unexplained nugget. For those of us that value certainty and safety (aka those of us that let the ego drive) this is not enough information. An intuitive prompting, "You should start that small business" Is met with, "Yeah, but if we quit this job, we don't get to go to the Christmas party at Johnny  Carino's next week." And then we find 600 more fearful (and usually lame) reasons to say no to our passions.So, like a good little bodyguard, the ego saved us from the painful experience of missing out on free pasta. And kept us from the terror of the unknown: possibly making our own schedule and being our own boss.For most of us the ego has been driving for many years. And it takes work to distinguish between your intuition and your ego, especially when you weren't aware of having multiple voices in your head in the first place. Simply observing the thoughts will help you understand that your fear is based off of your thoughts, rather than your actual feeling and desires.Your ego will speak in phrases that are dramatic, blaming or convincing in nature."I know everyone in my family says that he's terrible for me, but he said sorry for what he did. And I kind of provoked him. It really was my fault."However, intuition will calmly state core desired feelings without reason or negotiation."I deserve to feel loved and safe."Intuition is the part of ourselves that speaks the truth of our hearts. We need not know how it will all work out. We just need to wait for the promptings. And like muscle, when we practice the exercise, our intuition will grow.The ego voice is just the scared part of us that wants to be heard, validated and protected. Awareness of the ego awakens us to the truth of the situation, keeps the drama at bay and allows us to choose based off our heart's desires.If you want to learn more about the ego I recommend reading up on Eckhart Tolle's work, especially his book The Power Of Now.Light & Love,Sunnie