Okay, so I’ve been pondering the theory of peace that Eckhart Tolle writes about in his book.  He asks, “Do you want peace or drama?” and he goes on to discuss the fact that the “ego” as he calls it, thrives on the drama.

I was quick to think, “No, that’s not me.  I hate the drama, I don’t thrive on it!  I hate being so easily angered/frustrated/impatient/bored/annoyed/insert any negative adjective here.”  Then I decided to try a little experiment.  Every time I felt the surge of frustration/anger/annoyance/drama, I stopped in my tracks, took a breath and said, “I choose peace.”  I am still in awe every time I say it, and I feel an immediate deflation in my core.  It’s as though the negative feelings evaporate.  I am beginning to feel the separation of the “I” and “Me” that he talks about.  It feels like air being released from a balloon…I suspect that the more I deflate the ego with recognition, the less elastic it will become, and eventually it will fail to inflate…perhaps it will even burst due to it’s weakness.  A balloon will remain intact as long as it has air in it.  It only begins to weaken with repeated inflation and deflation.  This is how I envision the ego.  This balloon inside that exerts pressure and discomfort…it’s like living with a toothache.  At first it is bearable, but eventually the pain niggles at you enough that it begins to degrade your mood and your outlook with it’s persistence.

I was partially right when I said, “That’s not me!  I hate the drama.”  More accurate words would have been, “That’s not I!  I hate the drama!  However, Me loves it, and I will no longer allow Me to dictate how I will live.”