A Simple Path, a book about Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity, describes some of the prayers they use in their spiritual practice. One especially caught my eye, because it seems to be specifically geared to letting go of our whole sense of the personal self.
I urge you to spend time with this prayer, not just to read it once or twice. Reflect on each line and apply it to yourself; notice any confusion or resentment that it brings up in you. Give yourself time with it. Perhaps work with it every morning for a month. This prayer is so profoundly opposite our contemporary self-esteem craze, it is bound to stir up some bewilderment in us. But don't dismiss it. We don't call this spiritual work for nothing. It's hard!
Deliver me, O Jesus,
From the desire of being loved,
From the desire of being extolled,
From the desire of being honored,
From the desire of being praised,
From the desire of being preferred,
From the desire of being consulted,
From the desire of being approved,
From the desire of being popular,
From the fear of being humiliated,
From the fear of being despised,
From the fear of suffering rebukes,
From the fear of being calumniated,
From the fear of being forgotten,
From the fear of being wronged,
From the fear of being ridiculed,
From the fear of being suspected.
Our modern minds may chafe at the idea of giving up the desire to be loved, or the fear of being humiliated. We say, "But isn't that just natural?? Doesn't everyone want to be loved, and want not to be humiliated?" Sure, everyone who's willing to forever feel small, limited and personal.
But spiritual teachings are not the psychology of the world. They are recipes for a fundamental transformation of who we think we are. If you truly let go of every one of the desires and fears mentioned in her prayer, you would no longer be "you," you would be the Love of God itself manifesting through this particular body and personality. Mother Teresa knows what she's praying for. This prayer is a powerful tool for changing your entire state of mind.