Remember, the ego is insecure, scared and immature. Standing up to it can dissolve it, as it were, or it's likely to just retreat. An unmanaged ego is likely to encourage people to lump you.

Are these the only questions I can come up with? Absolutely not, but it seems they are the only ones that are socially acceptable to ask within the first five minutes of meeting someone. This drives me crazy, because the interaction is both boring and mildly irritating.

To truly exercise our most sacred ideals of "life and liberty" we must first be responsible to internally lay hold of who we are and not constantly live to appease other people's expectations or reactions of us.

As I began to grow up, I attempted to define myself -- this presence of "I" -- through endlessly collecting information. In this natural process of mental awareness inhabiting a body, I discovered a symphonic mandala of sometimes competing, sometimes complementing explanations.