From me to you

How do we make the switch? How do we shift from selfish to selfless? How do we lessen the mind's control?
I can tell you from experience how I made the switch. I, indeed, was not any way shape or form born self-less. As a kid, I was a bit of a control freak with my toys - just ask my sister. As I got older, the selfishness grew bigger and bigger. Self makes choices through life.
1) Allow experiences in our life to make us more docile and weaker.
2) Use experiences to grow stronger and more resilient.
In most cases, the latter occurs. Self knows to survive it must learn from prior difficulties, traumas and hurts. It builds a wall around its most prized possession - it's fortress, the heart. These walls protect self and by doing so, they keep others out. This is an evolutionary process: "Survival of the fittest!"
The only way to become Self-less is to lose Self. That is a most difficult conscious effort. The reason being, conscious effort comes out of the mind. The mind will NEVER choose to lose itself or loose itself.
So without conscious effort how does this occur? By coming to the END of self.

Me? I came to the End of my self quite unexpectedly. Through a series of events I found myself broken, confused, careerless, homeless, and most importantly, SELF-less.

The mind is a terrible thing to waste, right? Wrong! The mind is ego. Ego is self and vice versa. Ego makes us un-malleable. Ego is a control freak. Ego is a power trip. Ego is number one. Ego jumps off a cliff when things go wrong. Ego needs reasoning, order and perfection.

What saved me? Well, the only ONE who is always waiting, always ready to step in and save you when Ego wants to jump ship.
In that moment of clarity, you realize, this is "coming to the END of self." You know that in order to live, survive, you need to be rescued. You know you need to reach that hand. As you struggle to keep your head above water or your fingers are losing their grip on the cliff, you see the hand reaching for you. You can see the Savior, calling your name, calling to the spirit being that has been smothered by Ego. Then you realize, ego doesn't really care about you. Ego was ready to jump and take you with him. Ego cannot handle failure. Ego cannot handle loss. Ego would die before giving in.
But it's not giving in or giving up that you are doing. You are letting go. You are releasing yourself from the grip of memories, hurt, traumas, previous experiences. You are releasing yourself from the past. You are releasing control. You are no longer stiff and rigid, you are now soft and pliable. Your being feels like clay in a potter's hand. You feel more alive than you've ever felt. You feel more peace than you've ever known. You feel more love than your heart can handle. You look back and see Ego's face gnashing his teeth, running his mouth, shouting out cursings as he sees you melt.

You realize where you are.... You are in the palm of your Creator's hand. He is looking at you with the softest eyes. He smiles and says, "Finally....finally....you will let me help you! You will let me guide you into the being I created you to be. Finally, all the unique gifts and idiosyncrasies I put specifically within you will be put to use. Finally you will hear my soft voice and not the loud voices of all those around you, calling for your attention, trying to make you resilient, trying to make you into one of them."

 As He wipes the tears from your eyes and brushes your hair back from your face, you begin to see differently. You begin to see that the End is really only the beginning.