Page 33 - Bodhayanti Parasparam Vol 8
P. 33
Recent studies in personality problems found that just one act of self-control depletes our ability to have self-control in another unrelated area. For example, when subjects were told not to eat chocolates sitting right in front of them, their persistence in puzzle solving deteriorated. When they were told to suppress an emotional reaction to a movie, they had problems solving a solvable anagram. It is concluded in the study that this is the overwhelming reason why willpower only works in the short term. We only have the conscious resources to exhibit willpower on one (or at the most two) fronts at one time.
This is why it is so hard to stay disciplined with eating, exercise, studying, and the like. Any self- regulatory strategy has costs with respect to depleting a person's general resources for self regulation. It is obvious this is the problem we have to remain in the thought of the Master through out despite our will to do so. It is also observed in certain studies on the functioning of the mind that our
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