Can your will power control your mind? Yes. But, does that mean you have a free will? Actually, NO. Can "making up your mind" achieve tangible results? For most people, NO. Even famous people failed to see this side of will power. Abraham Lincoln said, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their mind to be.” But, the truth is that making up your mind to be happy does not make you happy. All the same, you can really grant power to your will, when you know its secret. Such power derives neither from the act of a "free will," nor from a process of "making up your mind."
Making up your mind is not the key to will power. Nor is your will power defeated by a “whir... click” mechanical nervous system.
Your will power fails, when your inner wisdom is defeated by your animal instincts.
You have a tremendous stored inner wisdom, which acts, outside your control.
The system is controlled by a triune brain, where your common sense competes with mammalian and reptilian brains.
Your common sense takes charge, when its attention makes the system aware of the emotions generated by the lower level brains. The process stills negative emotions.
Self awareness is the key, which can free your common sense. Practice it and empower your will.
Most people believe that “making up your mind” is the key to will power. They make resolutions to change the more undesirable aspects of their behavior. Eat less. Quit smoking. Or, avoid conflict at work. Sadly, they invariably end up admitting that their will power failed. They continue their habits, in spite of all their good intentions. But, deep inside, people know what is good and right. The "will" is definitely there, but, without the "power."
Control Your Mind - Failure of Inner Wisdom People know they should not give in to their innate desire for an easy life. Never getting out of bed, or quitting a trying job will only see their families ruined. Giving in is essentially destructive behavior. But the knowledge does not help. An intention to work out disappears even before they think of getting up from their armchairs. It is so boring. They feel so tired. Their joints ache. Even the prospect of losing weight and “looking good” fails to motivate. In spite of all good intentions, their will fails. They feel discouraged and incompetent.
Control Your Mind - The Determinists If people have a free will and their intention is to exercise it, what stops them? What happens to the “free will?” Actually, “will power” is defeated by the decisions of nerve cells. But, that defeat is not the result of a "click ... whirr," “determinist” decision. Determinists believe there is no free will at all. They claim that the interactions of nerve cells cause decisions, where past events decide present choices.
Just the way a snooker ball cannons off the sides, the determinists hold that your actions follow inevitable sequences of neural decisions. They are convinced that your past sets your present decisions in concrete. According to them, there is no free will. But, if there is no free will, people cannot be held responsible for their decisions. If the determinists are not responsible, they should not feel guilty. But, they do! How can you feel responsible, if your nerve cells makes your decisions? If neurons decide, what is will power?
Control Your Mind - Stored Wisdom The determinists are wrong, because your mind makes intuitive choices from an extraordinary stockpile of internal wisdom. Past events do not mechanically decide your decisions, leaving you powerless. Your mind makes wise choices. Such wisdom has mind boggling dimensions. As an example, the DNA in each living cell within you contains about six billion chemical letters, which can only be recorded in a thousand 500 page books. In a grown human body, the total of those codes would fill the Grand Canyon fifty times over with 500 page books! Unimaginably complex codes manage every aspect of your life.
Your nervous system has a massive wisdom, which learns continually and responds to situations with its inherited and acquired knowledge. Your actions are not predetermined jack hammer responses, but follow decisions, which constantly adjust to new knowledge and changing circumstances. While your nerve cells make those decision, you still can exercise your will power.
Control Your Mind - The Will of RI To grant more power to your will, you need to understand where it comes from. In the normal course, your emotions control your actions. Moment by moment, within the blink of an eye, an intuitive decision making process chooses your current emotion. You suddenly become angry. It will take a few moments for you to even realize that you are angry. Your mind switches controls within a triune brain, between primitive intelligences and RI, a human level intelligence.
It is RI, which knows that a work out is good for you. Your will is the intention of RI, your highest level intelligence. All those complaints about tiredness, boredom, or pain come from primitive lower level feeling and emotion signals. Once in control, those emotions can immediately convince you of the validity of their objections. Your will power fails, when the lower levels hijack controls and change your real time convictions! The convictions of RI are over ruled.
Control Your Mind - The Secret You can exercise your will power by taking advantage of a quirk of your mind. Intuition relentlessly hands over control to the most powerful emotion, instantly setting your priorities. The system will also hand over control to RI, if you merely focus your attention. Ancient wisdom advised you to count upto ten, when you get angry. Then, your attention focuses on counting. In the instant you begin counting, RI will take charge. The focus of your attention on counting will still the anger signals. RI can take control, by just focusing attention. The wisdom of RI is your will. While it is not easy, just focus your attention properly and your will takes control!
Control Your Mind - The Method When you think of working out, a sudden feeling of lethargy overwhelms you. Focus your attention on the physical sensation triggered by the emotion. Attention is the key. The sensation could be a remembered tiredness, or pain. It is a quirk of the system that your attention to the sensation will instantly kill the ability of the emotion to control your mind. The signals, which triggered that feeling will vanish, (unless they are, at that moment, too powerful). Usually, lethargy will just be a response of the system to the emotion. The emotion will have made you feel tired. Such feelings of tiredness are not real. “It is all in the mind!” When attention is paid to the lethargic feeling, it will disappear. Left to itself, RI will actively begin your workout. Your will power will have taken charge.
Control Your Mind - Self Awareness You need to practice the awareness. It is worth the effort! Emotions are clever. They can convince you of the logic of their choices. The feeling will use tiredness to convince you that the benefits of working out are not all that great. The more you argue with that feeling, the more will the emotion present you with the advantages of relaxing in your armchair. Your mind will withhold all the memories and images, which oppose the emotion. An emotion just cannot be “persuaded” to disappear. It has to be stilled.
Stilling requires awareness. A careful focus of attention on the symptoms supporting the emotion will achieve stillness. “What do I feel now?” is the crucial question which will focus your attention on "an outside view" of the emotion. You have to identify the subtle physical symptoms of the feeling. You will receive a true answer to the question “What do I feel now?” only when you become self aware. That takes practice.
Control Your Mind - A Practiced Skill Will power is not the mythical exercise of a "free will." Neither is it control over your emotions. It is the simple ability to do the right thing. Your nerve cells make your decisions. Those are not mechanical knee jerk responses. They are decisions mediated between an army of intelligences, which all seek your well being. In that incredibly complex process, you will only be exercising your will power, when the right group of nerve cells make your decisions.
RI knows the right thing you should do. The lesser emotions divert you from your goals by compelling you through pain, pleasure, or boredom. For escape from such a situation, the right words are not “I must work out.” The crucial question is “What do I feel now?” Awareness of that feeling will hand controls of the system to RI and enable you to exercise your will power. Begin to learn that self awareness today.
Will power is not the mythical exercise of a "free will." Neither is it control over your emotions. It is the simple ability to do the right thing. Your nerve cells make your decisions. Those are not mechanical knee jerk responses. They are decisions mediated between an army of intelligences, which all seek your well being. In that incredibly complex process, you will only be exercising your will power, when the right group of nerve cells make your decisions.
