Willpower or self-discipline

If you’re one of the few people who can maintain enough willpower and self-control to reach your goals, you’ll often find that while you may have reached your goal in terms of weight, your emotional longing for freedom, self-confidence, and self-acceptance is far from being fulfilled.

My definition of willpower and self-control is that when we believe that there is an external plan, diet, or eating method that is the right way to eat, all we have to do is have the will and self-control to follow the rules, and then we will be fine.

When we believe in this plan, it disconnects us from our self, our lifestyle, our experiences and our inner knowing. Instead of using our inner wisdom as a path to guide us to our goals, we give up on ourselves and then wonder why we can’t will or control ourselves enough to achieve our goals. It’s like you’re constantly fighting a battle against yourself that you can never win.

For me, self-discipline is a process of getting to know myself and my true thoughts, and then practicing to become a person who honors and lives my true thoughts.

Self-discipline, however, is another matter.

When we force ourselves to follow a plan, not only does our body shrink, but so does our being. To me, the cost of that is not worth it.

The path of self-discipline requires patience, love, compassion, forgiveness, understanding and a lot of trial and error.

When you discover something true about yourself, your body and your soul, you practice that truth through your habits and actions.

It’s not based on what others think of you, but on what you have truly discovered about yourself.

This is not because it will make you thin or accepted, but because it will make you feel good.

That’s why I encourage people to try many different diets so you know what works for you and what doesn’t. Again, by “works” I mean “feels good”.

And I don’t just mean the food on your plate. Does your lifestyle feel good? Your responsibilities? How much time do you have to focus on it? And so on.

When you know something is true for you, then honoring what it does for you is what I mean by self-discipline, which is very different from self-control or willpower.

And it may not be what you think it is.