Sonia Choquette describes ego as a barking dog, a faithful servant that often takes over from your spiritual self. Name your ego, train it to serve your spirit instead of leading, and you reclaim the power to live an extraordinary life.
Chapters
Can you imagine a barking poodle in Paris? I would never be good enough. Don't sit out. Don't let other people carry you because your barking dog doesn't want to play. Don't be a drag. That party that doesn't want to play is ruining your life. I'm talking about living an extraordinary life. It's not a mental idea. It is a complete paradigm shift. So let's talk about that brain. Let's talk about that ego. I mean, the ego part of you is here to support you. The ego part of you is not necessarily the problem. The problem is it's not the leader. The ego of you should not be driving the bus because the ego part of you is fearful and limited and defensive and always not enough. Always not enough. Always. It will always be not enough. You know that part of you that feels like a big imposter? It is, because it's not your spirit. It's like, you know what? You should be scared. You aren't the driver. So what I call that part of you. Einstein was really good about helping us frame that beautifully when he said, the human spirit is your sacred gift. Now feel that. Your sacred gift, that's a part of you. You are here to unleash every course you're here to take every conversation you're here to have. That's the yearning, but the other part of you, he says, and the rational mind, it's faithful servants. Servant. It's servant. Sadly, we've thrown away the gift and we've become enslaved to the servant. So the way that my teacher set this up is so great, because my teacher said that your sacred gift, your spirit, has a servant, and it's your barking dog. Your little barking dog wants to be the servant and wants to be the helper. But unfortunately, we've become backed in a corner by our barking dog. So first thing we need to do is we need to identify the barking dog. So what kind of dog are you? I'll start with me. What kind of dog am I? If I were a dog, if my ego were a dog, what would it be? It's kind of obvious. Poodle. Poodle. Look at her and her dress and her poodle. My ego's a poodle. She wants to be in nice clothes and she wants to be all that. And look, even the hair. It's poodle hair. You know, we all have one. And my barking dog, you give your first you name your dog, and then you give her a name or him a name. My barking dog's name is Fifi. When Fifi's in charge, I'm in trouble. But when Fifi serves my spirit, she takes me shopping. It works out, so it's important. Name and identify your ego self as your barking dog or cat or parrot or whatever, and turn to the person next to you and say, I'd like you to meet my faithful soul servant. Name that animal. Mine is Fifi. What's yours? What's your Chihuahua. What's your German Shepherd. What's your. What's your mutt? What's your cat? Shh. Now, the reason I'm stopping you so quickly is I don't want you to give the backstory on the. On the pet. Once that pet starts barking, it's gonna want to tell you all about it. Okay? So we're just gonna say, this is my little barking dog. It's the Chihuahua. And here's the thing. You don't shoot the dog, okay? We're not gonna get over your ego. It's helpful. It's your faithful servant. You have to train the dog. You have to train the cat to be supportive instead of to fight your spirit. So feel your spirit. Name your spirit, and start the conversation. We're never gonna get what's right, ever. You're only gonna get what's true for you. For now. So what are you ignoring? What are you denying? What are you waiting permission for? What are you afraid to say? Just say it. You don't have to listen. You get a choice. Okay. Go, Sam.
