“Children are completely egoistic; they feel their needs intensely and strive ruthlessly to satisfy them.”
– Freud
Sigmond Freud realized that there are three aspects to the human psyche: the id, ego, and super-ego.
The id, is the primitive and instinctive component of the personality. Think of your being consisting of many sub-personalities within you. Anger, sexual desire, pleasure, and urges. Like many different gods subsiding within. The id is similar to a new born child. All the child’s needs need to be met. Sometimes you are taken over by anger and later you find out you were just hungry. That angry personality , which feels like a mind of its own, is part of the id. The id is the impulsive, instinctive, and unconscious part of your psyche. It is primitive.
“The ego is the part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external environment.” – Freud.
The ego is who you think you are. A construct. The conscious part of your personality. The ego mediates between the unconscious id and the real world. The ego devises a strategy to obtain the pleasures of the id. There is no right or wrong with the ego, it just wants to achieve its aim that is originated from the id. The go has strong attachments to external means to make you feel whole or complete. I am a weed smoker. This creates a certain self image and when you begin to break that certain habit the ego has trouble letting that identity go. It says, “if I do not have that then who am I?” In this case, the id’s primitive needs are not being met so you may become hostile or aggressive. The ego wants to stick with what’s most familiar. It is also greatly impacted and formed from the values and morals of culture and the people around you. Collected society. This is the super-ego.
The super-ego can be described as the collected norm. The beliefs and values you absorb from the media, your school teachers, and your parents. Imagine that sponge-like brain of your childhood self. You looked up to these people and influencers because you needed to know how to behave in the world.
The super-ego controls the ids impulses. You know this because commercials target your primitive brain. Those impulses are targeted by ads of sugary snacks and high processed foods that light up your reward circuits. For so long, I was a puppet of culture. Going along with the group. Pornography is considered normal and healthy among culture but consists of many negative side effects that get swept under the carpet. Then when pornography becomes your new normal, you fail to see the quality of your life without it. We tend to fall into the grain production of society becoming of one mind. Fitting in. Taking the easy route. Doing what is most convenient.
Just because certain food is available doesn’t mean you should consume it. The obesity epidemic is on the rise. Disease and cancer is progressing. What we put into our bodies matter! Do you think big pharmaceuticals is looking out for your health? On the contrary, they are making more money than ever because of the inflamed population. They do not want to promote a low-carb whole foods diet for optimal health because they will lose profits.
I always say, you do not know who you truly are until you break-out of your current patterns and programs. First admitting to yourself that things could be better is the big step forward. Are you not feeling your best? Are you in pain? Out in the unknown is where you incorporate new information into your being. Then you won’t be the same person as you were before but a more enhanced version. More informed and wise. If you stick with what’s familiar and convenient for you, then how are you going to reach your higher self? What’s comfortable and your stagnant self are both in alignment at this point. The people who are succeeding in optimal health and reduced anxiety are above you in self mastery. You could ignore them or push them aside (because they serve as the ultimate judge bringing up your insecurities) or you can learn from these people. These are the people the detest mediocracy and go against the grain of the normal.
Everyday we are told from the normal around us how we ought to be. This is absorbed unconsciously. Why not look into your mental and physical health on your own terms. Find influencers who are empowered and have reached new heights with their overall health. There is a high sacrifice that comes with this. You start to sacrifice sugar and grains and then notice the gigantic difference in your energy and weight loss. Now you’re going against the grain of your friends, family, and coworkers who continue to eat a high processed diet. This is no simple thing. It makes you stand out like a swore thumb. You become an outlier. But then, you burn off the relationships that do not support the new you and continue to hold you back. You are left with those people who are like-minded and support the new and improved you. Do not expect the quality of your life to improve if the sacrifices you make are insufficient.
“It’s so easy to be great nowadays because everyone else is weak.” – David Goggins
This is clinical psychologist Carl Jung in a nutshell: what you need to find is in the place where you least want to look. Those people who reach high levels of greatness do what is most difficult. To heal from the past, you must confront it. To lessen your fear, you most expose yourself to it. To develop socially, you must place yourself in social situations. These are difficult and challenging but necessary for self growth. If you do not make the appropriate sacrifices then the quality of your life will be greatly impacted. You fall into the easy. The convenient. This in turn causes more pain because you will begin to feel hollow. Unfulfilled. Complacent. The yearning for more enhances and you fall into drugs, alcohol, Netflix, and toxic relationships for that novelty. That easy route only numbs the truth of your being. That hard work, discipline, and the adoption of great responsibility is what’s required for a high quality meaningful life.
Listen below for the full podcast episode!