There is something freeing in taking time to strip away from our identities and labels, like our political party, race, job title, our actions that we take pride in, and any other social title we might think up in order to connect with the truth of who we are below the surface, where we are all one and the same.
From a spiritual sense, all of us are nothing but an essence, or an eternal substance of being- a spirit united to God and each other.
To me, this "ego stripping" is a refreshing act of spiritual poverty, for it's helpful to practice letting go of anything that stands in the way of your awareness of God’s presence. It’s making yourself poor, intentionally, from a psychological sense, to provide yourself the opportunity to search for what is eternal and lasting within you.
This stripping must not be mistaken with lessening ourselves either, for when we enter into conscious contemplation, we find our likeness and closeness to the divine, rather than everything that separates us from it.
Therefore, today I encourage you to slow down and "be" instead of racing towards your to-do list, and to let go of your labels and self-judgments before any shame and anxieties can creep in to make you feel distant from your true self.
As you do, watch as your day unfolds before you. And your anger, anxiety, and unwanted impulses fade away.
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash