Are you becoming a slave to your passions?

αυτοέλεγχος

Do you often lose control of your life? Can you not easily subdue your horse impulses and resort to temporary pleasures? Are you clinging to your negative or even positive emotions for a long time, affecting your thinking and behavior?

Are you becoming a slave to your passions?

Then he goes to say that you have no self-control! "Why should I have Self-Control?" you will tell me... It is a skill necessary for the achievement of your long-term goals, through which the orderly functioning of your daily life is ensured, both on a personal and professional level.

Self-control, however, is not innate! Rather, it is an acquired virtue, which means you can acquire it through daily practice.

αυτοέλεγχος

But what can you do on a daily basis to strengthen your self-control, in a way that serves your purpose?

  • Believe first that you can gain self-control, note on paper that you already have self-control and shout it out loud!
  • Distance yourself a little and make a self-observation! Take paper and pencil and write down in detail what triggers your dysfunctional reactions to each stimulus!
  • Try to discover the deepest source, cause of your behavior and record, listing in your notebook, the long-term effects you will have in your life if you continue to lose your self-control!
  • Learn from your wrong behaviors and write in your notebook in detail how you want him to stand in different situations!
  • Visualize yourself having self-control and experience all the positive feelings that flow from this behavior!
  • Record or even video yourself when it is alone in the room to see how it responds to external stimuli!

What else can you do to have Self-Control?

  • Listen or see, respectively, the material you have in your possession and evaluate yourself objectively!
  • Write a diary of your thoughts and feelings! Don't push your feeling away! Don't care how you write them! No one will evaluate you!
  • Engage in creative activities such as running, walking, meditation, embroidery, knitting, yoga, pilates, and martial arts to learn to shift, focus your attention, and your thinking to accomplish them. Thus, you will be trained to focus on things, without being distracted by environmental stimuli.
  • Talk to people, consciously, using your logic. Give yourself some time to think before you act in a certain way and consider whether your behavior will benefit you in the long run and not if it is convenient for you in the short term!
  • Choose to associate with people who already possess a sufficient degree of self-control. After all, it is known that our circle defines us to a large extent!

 

Now, I guess you are not wondering "Why should I have self-control?", since the cultivation of self-control is an imperative, especially in modern society, due to the fast pace of life and the multiple stimuli, which we accept and which require alertness and readiness from us. However, it is a fact that the development of self-restraint is an arduous and continuous process, which requires faith, strong will, determination, flexibility, adaptability and of course, patience, especially if it is not our particular characteristic.

Do not forget…

It's never too late to cultivate it! 

Start now!

Columnist: Alexia Styliani Kanakari

0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x