The quickness of her response and the anger and defensiveness in her voice were indication that she had not yet become present enough to look within and to disentangle her reaction from the event and observe them both.
~ A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle, pg. 39

How often have we reacted quickly and with “anger and defensiveness”? (Hand raised) Me! Me! Me! I do this often.

I’m not proud but I am humble and I know when to apologize and when to concede. I’m also trying to get a grasp on when it’s not worth arguing because the other person simply wants to argue and wants to be right. Which draws my ego to the surface and claims, “No! I’m right!”

The amount of energy we spend on proving our sides of the story is astounding. We lose sleep, we lose time, we lose, lose, lose, trying desperately to prove we are right, right, right.


Now think of a time when you released the need to be right - when you ignored the Ego - and you just released. If you can’t recall doing this, please give it a try at some point today when you notice you are locked in a struggle with someone else. What you will notice is your shoulders will drop, the tightness in your chest will release, tension in your face and head will melt away and you will be able to inhale fully.

And your heart will open and be filled with compassion and love. You may not recognize it as such, but that’s what has happened.