Willpower

Hello lovely people,

Hope you had a good weekend or even still having one right now. Hope you had a great time with your family and friends, but most of all I wish you were your authentic self and have some kind of awareness of the habits you want to break in your life, especially if there are some bad ones that you don’t like.

It’s hard to show your real face after showing the world a mask, isn’t it? You’re wondering how to break away from that habit and find help. You sometimes feel so deep in it that it feels like you’re drowning, alone.

I don’t know what addiction is like, but now that I’ve been writing these articles a lot of people are opening up about secrets they’ve been keeping in their family because society thinks this is a disease. As if having to deal with a mental illness is a disease and almost as if you’re loony just to mention that you have concerns about anxiety, depression, addiction, panic attacks, emotional abuse and a whole lot of things out there that people are finding hard to face internally daily.

There is so much ignorance around the word “phycologist” or saying out loud that, “I am looking after my mental health right now,” or saying, “I have an addiction, and it’s hard. I’m trying, but I have to work with a lot of underlying issues.”

Tell me something, what is so wrong with the truth? Tell me something, what is so right with a lie?

So, I’ve come from the real-wide world, a traveller for just about over 18 years. I came from a conserve culture. My natural state was freedom and joy. When I was born like you, I was packed with sex, age, religion, separateness (race, culture and gender), xenophobia, shamed (not to say that in my 18 years travelling I haven’t met face to face with a number of these issues worldwide) … I mean you’ve read some of these articles I wrote here right? If you have or haven’t, I’m sure you have your own articles out there waiting to be read by someone like me or someone out there looking for answers. You know exactly what I mean by you just sitting here reading this.

I hate to say that now, after being back from 18 years of travels I can safely say that the Hindu community in the US, UK, South Africa and India (only these countries so far from my travels and talks with others)  does NOT support openness and people have no concern, sympathy, compassion, kindness and understanding for the mothers, sisters, fathers, brothers, grandparents of the individuals and the individuals themselves who have mental issues that by the way isn’t a huuuuuuuge disease and with the help of a psychologist all it takes is a few months and maybe a few years (not even going daily) to get the mindset shifted in the direction of a healthy, happy and truthful life, I mean that best life waiting for them. Wow! Was that a long sentence or what?

Of course, if you’re like me right now then know you’re an exception and there are very few of us who are really open-minded in the Hindu culture.

Please leave a comment if you’re any other race or even an Indian from any other country. Generally, I’d just like to hear your thoughts on this, i.e. the paragraph above or even this whole article.

So why this article on willpower?

You know throughout my travels a certain quote of mine always stood out. I finally put on paper today.

Every human being is faced with this question as often as the sunrises and as often as the moon comes out…

Should I do the right thing, or should I do what really matters to me?

This decision is made first from selfishness and is dictated by the heart.

Choosing the right thing is a continual process of training the willpower.

 

T. Dench Patel

18 August 2019

8:14

So, see, it even takes gossipers and the non-supportive communities’ willpower to choose right in the way they want the future to look for their children and grandchildren.

Please take a look at this article. It contains a lot of research. It is written from evidence from several psychologists and professionals from around the world.

I want you to know that food is very much linked with willpower, ensure your children are eating all their meals and have a healthy diet. The article below will explain more than just the correlation of food and its link to willpower.

1. Introduction – The American Psychological Association conducted the stress in America survey.
2. Delaying gratification – Walter Mischel, PhD, now at Columbia University explored self-control in children
3. Is willpower a limited resource – This article was written with the perspective of psychologist Roy Baumeister, Kathleen Vohs from the University of Minnesota, scientists at University of Toronto, Mark Muraven at University of Albany, Stanford University researcher – Take a look at the link I leave for “recharging your willpower,” as the video puts what you read here more into perspective.
4. Willpower and healthy behaviours – An article written using the study of Eli Tsukayama with colleagues (University of Pennsylvania), Todd Heatherton of Dartmouth College and Kathleen Vohs, Mark Muraven and Kevin King from the University of Washington
5. Willpower, poverty and financial decision-making – An article written using Kathleen Vohs study, Ronald Faber from the University of Minnesota, Dean Spears from Princeton University.
6. Strengthening self-control – This article uses Walter Mischel’s study, Mark Muraven, Australian scientist Megan Oaten and Ken Cheng of the Macquarie University of Sidney.
7. PLEASE READ THIS ONE IF YOU HAD EGO DEPLETION OR WILLPOWER DEPLETION AND TAKING IN ALL OF THE ABOVE – Key points and conclusions

This was my take away from the Key points and conclusions section.

• Willpower is correlated with positive life outcomes such as better grades, higher self-esteem, lower substance abuse rates, greater financial security and improved physical and mental health.
• When willpower fails, exposure to an emotionally charged stimulus overrides one’s rational, cognitive system, leading to impulsive actions.
• One’s capacity for self-control appears to be persistent. Children with better self-control as preschoolers tend to have better self-control as adults
• Individuals with low self-control show differing brain patterns when presented with tempting stimuli.
• The effects of willpower depletion may be mitigated by positive moods, beliefs and attitudes.
• Willpower depletion impacts a range of behaviors, including food intake, substance use and abuse and purchasing behavior.

Please read the whole article though as it has so much of valuable information.

Please see the above mention research and studies from different scientists, psychologists, and professionals on this link https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/willpower

I found this article amazing as well.

The article is titled “The psychology of willpower: Training the brain for better decisions.”

https://positivepsychology.com/psychology-of-willpower/

Willpower and food

Take a look at this video. It’s interesting to know that food has a significant effect on recharging your willpower.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ou2MUSF0v8

Take a look at this video titled, “How to quit any addiction – The strategy”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8JjuyRIxOg&list=PLE_vQWWxgaiH1Xcri6_WJDZnC_XezkyAO&index=1

T. Dench Patel

Thank you for the comments and support. Thank you for offering to donate if there was a donate button on here. I prefer not to take donations. You can support by either purchasing one of my books (Paperback or Kindle), The South African: True Colours, The South African: Roamer or my children’s book Light. These books can be found on Amazon mainly and other sites in your country.

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Note: Do keep referring back to this site as much as possible, as I grow, a more profound perspective may form and so I will always come back to each of these articles to reevaluate them.