The ego is the false self—born out of fear and defensiveness. ~John O’Donohue
“Does it sometimes seem like the world is just a little too much for you? Do you feel that you need to protect yourself from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune? (Thank you, Hamlet.) Are you a fragile flower being buffeted by life’s storms?
Then I think you’ve been listening to your ego too much. I understand all of those feelings ve
ry well, but I’ve recently discovered something life-changing: It’s only the ego, or small self, that’s fragile.
The soul is like a wild animal—tough, resilient, savvy, self-sufficient, and yet exceedingly shy. ~Parker Palmer
The soul—your authentic self—is a honey badger. 
You know those honey badger videos on YouTube, where the little guy gets bitten by a cobra or stung by a whole swarm of African killer bees, but just keeps on going? That’s what your soul’s like. ‘Honey badger don’t care…’
We always have access to these two different perspectives, but most of the time we’re so identified with the small self that we forget about our honey-badger souls.
The ego is a prickly little thing, with a hair-trigger reaction, ready to go off at a moment’s notice.
The soul is incredibly calm and resilient—not touchy and reactive, and yet capable of
taking effective action when needed with a minimum of fuss.
The ego’s self-appointed function is to help you get what you think you need from the world and prevent you from losing what you have. It’s fueled by fear and sees threats everywhere.
This fear leads inevitably to feelings of separation, lack, competition, judgment, grasping, and deep loneliness—in other words, suffering.
The soul, in contrast, is rooted in love and a deep-seated well-being. Things that put the small self in a tizzy often bounce right off it.”
tinybuddha.com, Amaya Pryce
