¿? What is important? Alama, almost reaching his late fifties, felt a vacuum. He realized it has been building over a period of time and he has been trying to fill this with something or the other. Mostly by keeping himself occupied. The feeling although not new, surely had become stronger now. He would reflect back on the past and sometimes, swiftly, pass through his present into the unknown but limited future. The limitedness of the future time would make him get into a spiral of thoughts. Thoughts about purpose of efforts. Thoughts about meaning of life. Thoughts about mortality. He would, very often brush them aside and once again carry on with his routine. But off late, it had started bothering him. It was always there like a nagging pain. Today was different. He decided to address this. He decided to talk to himself. “What is important for me ?” “Who is important ?” Looking into the past made him realize that he has been living behind the shield of his ego. He was trying to pacify his ego. He was trying to please his ego. He was trying to protect his ego. He was not doing things that made him happy but instead the things that helped keep his ego intact and surely that was giving a pseudo sense of happiness. The happiness one gets when one pleases other person. He was not important. His Ego was more important than him. He himself was giving his Ego more importance than himself. He was sacrificing his likings to safeguard his Ego. “I am not important to myself?“ He thought loudly. “My Ego is more important than me ?“ “Is that the reason for this vacuum I feel very often?” “Is this the reason for lack of purpose I feel sometimes?” “Is this the reason for the confusion and disconnect I feel sometimes?’ Alama decided to take a walk into the small mountain trek near his house. His thoughts were once again racing and wavering. He reached on the top and sat on his favourite spot, a large protruded stone, on the slope. He has been doing so many things just to boost his ego, or project his ego or the image. He has been reacting or countering to other peoples Ego by his own Ego. He was not doing what was right or what he liked. What he was doing instead was just a confirmation to the world and people around. He was not loving, living, feeling and thinking his way. Instead he was doing exactly as was defined by his Ego protection system. Was he wasting his life? The limited life? With all these thoughts, he was just gazing into the oblivion. He could see the entire valley and other misty hills around. Absolute serenity . He picked a small sharp stone and wrote on the big protruded flat wall of the stone on which he was sitting. “I am more important than my Ego” He decided to take action on this. “Today, I will do something that will prove that I am more important than my Ego” “I will do something that my Ego may be stopping me to do” “Just one action to start giving importance to my self” “just let go off my Ego” “Is it so simple “ isn’t it a sign of weakness?” He thought “What would others think if I let go my Ego ?” He was again getting into an Ego trap. He realized he has to decide. His happiness or his Ego? He chose happiness. Although it had started getting dark, Alama was clear in his mind. He started walking back to the valley. Relieved and happy. Life was making some sense. “ I am I, and not my Ego” “My Ego is a manifestation of my survival dynamics with my outside world.” “I am different from others and I need not follow what others are doing” I am fine monu