The teacher said to his student with a big ego to take a basket of walnuts and go to the masjid and sit there. Everyone who comes inside, give him your shoes to beat you on your head. If he beats you one time, give him one walnut and if he beats you 2 times give him 2 walnuts. Then when you are done and head is swollen, come back and I give you the next step.

Our ego is so big that it is destroying him or her. That is what is making problems between husband and wife, and between children. No one is trying to be patient on the other.Make a rule with your wife. When she is upset keep quiet and when you are upset she keeps quiet.

So make sure not to listen to your ego. What destroyed humanity is ego. When Shaytan whispered in the ear of Adam (a.s.), he whispered to the self, and the self always likes to be eternal. So Shaytan said, “you will be eternal” and he stepped over what Allah ordered him not to do and ate from the tree. Try to polish the ego. Cut it down. Accept what others are saying. That is why in Sayyidina Musa’s (a.s.) shari`ah there is revenge. You take revenge by your hand – eye for eye, tooth for tooth – you begin to do this and the one who began the fight is the oppressor.

Credit: http://eshaykh.com/