Hello and welcome back to the podcast where you are invited for lighthearted conversations

about things that matter as you seek to live your most meaningful, beautiful, and joyful life.

I'm your host, Dr. Edie Wadsworth, and I hope you enjoy your stay here at the House of Joy.

Hi, dear ones. Welcome back to the podcast. This is episode 238, and we are talking about five

signs that you are operating from your ego and a few simple strategies for shifting more

into living in your true identity as your true self. So the ego has its place in our lives and it is often

functioning to protect us. So the ego, the false self, the nature of the ego is to keep us

safe, is to protect us, is to keep us from discomfort. The ego, you know, is always trying to get us to avoid

vulnerability, avoid anything where we can, you know, truly be known. And so it definitely has its

function, again, normally to keep us safe. Often it does that, though, by creating a lot of shame for us. And then when shame

comes along, we hide. It's really hard for us to be our true selves. So I want you to pay attention

as we talk about these five signs that you're operating in your ego. Number one, the constant need

for external validation. So if you're often relying on other people's

approval, needing praise or acknowledgement to feel okay about yourself, seeking approval in a million

ways through, you know, sometimes we do this through social media, the constant need to be

validated by our friends or our spouse,

constantly seeking outside validation and not really trusting our own selves and our own

inner wisdom. And this is super, super common in women, especially in midlife. As a matter of fact,

it's usually for those of us in midlife

been a whole way of life. And it really prevents us from true connection. It prevents us from being

really true to ourselves and being in real connection with other people. And so that is definitely

a sign that we are operating in ego. Number two, fear of disappointment or rejection.

...