Psychic surgery

There are some people who believe that, in order to be a healthy functioning human being, you have to eliminate anything about you that is perceived to be a negative. One such negative is what we commonly call the ego. The ego has received some bad press over the years. We commonly hear, "Oh, he or she has such an overinflated ego." If that ego could be excised, then the person would be deemed as acceptable. If there truly is something called the ego, it is not a negative at all. Its purpose is to support your survival. It alerts you to the dangers that threaten your emotional well-being. The problem is that it doesn't always apply a rational approach to this. It can be the part of us that holds us back from attempting to do something we have never tried before to protect us from the pangs of failure. When we recognize that it is simply a part of who we are, we realize we don't have to eliminate it from our lives. When it presents itself, we can impose our adult self on its position and refocus it. Then we can see it for what it is and not have to try to perform psychic surgery on it. Rather we integrate it into our being and value its presence in our lives. How do you see your ego functioning and how do you deal with it on a daily basis?