You just left a friendly gathering where you had a great time. The food was delicious. The company was sublime. Heck, everyone even laughed at your jokes.

On the way home, however, your brain starts its chattering. “They’ll hate you forever for referring to the baked ziti as ‘macaroni.’ They only laughed at your jokes to be nice. And you called the dog ‘Sam’ when his name is ‘Sarge.’ You’re such a fool.” 

Instead of floating on the high of the gathering, by the time you get home you’re at an all-time low. What the heck happened? I’ll tell ya what happened. You let the little me take control. 

The who? The little me. The little me is the inner negative talk that likes to fuel our heads with doubt, complaints, anger and loads of fear. Some call it ego. Others give it names like “Slick.” I would daresay we all have one, whether we realize (or admit) it or not. 

In short, the little me can be a real turd. It often feels like its only function is to tear down the Big Me, which is our glorious spirit that lives in truth and love. 

The Big Me knows your jokes are funny. It also knows no one really cared or noticed that you called the food macaroni or the dog Sam. Well, maybe the dog noticed. But he’ll forgive you. 

Living with the little me at the helm jams us up every time. But fighting with it only makes it louder and more insistent. 

So how do we get rid of it? Can we get rid of it? The jury’s still out on that one. Twenty years ago, I drew a rendition of my little me on a rock and hurled it into the Gulf of Mexico. I just battled with the dang thing again last week. 

Someone else said they envisioned stuffing their little me in a trunk, wrapping the trunk with chains and locks, and then hurling it into the sea. By the next morning the trunk was back on the beach – with all the little me arms coming out of the trunk like an octopus. 

Evidently, hurling little me into a large body of water doesn’t work all that well for total eradication. And perhaps total eradication isn’t the answer anyway. Maybe we can use it as an impetus for good, teaching it to work with us instead of against us. 

My little me likes to get enraged, but that anger often propels me into positive action. This is good. 

And if all else fails, I discovered another cool trick that came to me during this morning’s meditation. 

I was luxuriating in all the loving energies of the universe, feeling them swirl in, around and through me like some kind of spiritual Jacuzzi. Perfect, right? Right. Too perfect for little me to stand! 

Little me tried to start her usual chatter in my head – so I envisioned grabbing her, plopping her on a raft, and sending her swirling about in the flow of loving energies.

I haven’t heard from her since. I figure she either became dizzy and nauseous enough to pass out – or she’s actually learning to keep her trap shut and enjoy the Big Me ride.

This column initially appeared in the Cape Coral Sun newspaper where Ryn writes a monthly column and reports on the sunshiny Florida community.