Jonah Engler is a respected New York entrepreneur who guides nearly two dozen retail franchise operations and credits a strong work ethic as a key component of success. Among the concepts Jonah Engler takes inspiration from in his daily life are those presented by the Buddhist writer Eckart Tolle.
A recent article in Collective Evolution brought attention to Tolle’s focus on diminishing the ego, which he defines as encompassing the mind’s core activities that form persistent and repetitive emotions and thoughts. These reactive thought patterns are ones with which the self readily identifies, and they make up the ego. Although the content is dramatically different from person to person, depending on past experiences, the structure is the same for all people.
One aspect of transcending the ego involves fostering awareness and gratitude, which usurp the complaint-focused victim mentality that many fall into. Rather than nursing a habitual sense that “something happened to me,” it makes sense to look at how this attitude may reflect one’s inner state. This begins a process of enacting change in one’s own attitude and actions, instead of automatically assigning blame.
