Sober October - Day 4 - Willpower
October 4, 2020 at 6:55 am,
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Morning! Happy hangover-free Sunday. It's too nice a day to waste even one minute feeling shitty. I hope you all have a really nice day.Today's topic, willpower....
Don't think of a purple-spotted elephant, don't think of a purple-spotted elephant, don't think of a purple-spotted elephant, don't think of a purple-spotted elephant, don't think of a purple-spotted elephant...
What did you think of?
I don't want that drink, I don't want that drink, I don't want that drink, I don't want that drink, I don't want that drink...
Get it?
Willpower is a function of your conscious, thinking, criticising analysing mind. It is fascinating how it works. You receive around 2,000,000 bits of information per day through all your senses, what goes in from all of that is relayed to you subconscious mind, where it becomes long-term memory. Your subconsious also processes emotions, and since emotions are stronger than thoughts when it comes to overriding familiar thought patterns, that's why willpower doesn't work. In a nutshell.
What can you do? The best thing is... think about something else. If you get to mithering on wanting a drink, it will snowball. Nip that first thought in the bud... then prune the second and the third... Your brain will form new patterns as you change thought habits. Just give yourself a pat on the back for having noticed the thought and move away from it to something more pleasant.
Happy Sunday everyone.