We know what is good for us! Why don’t we always follow through with it?

You might have noticed that changes often take effort and some changes take a bit more effort than others but once habits are formed then everything is easier. This is because there are parts of us that don’t feel comfortable with change and growth. If it was up to them we would sit in front of a TV, having pizza all day long because the couch is comfortable and pizza is comfort food. But a comfortable life does not equate to a happy or a meaningful life.

As a matter of fact the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most important spiritual texts of the east is an allegory of just that, this struggle within the human being. We talk more about this in the Conscious Yoga Academy courses. We notice these parts in us, we embrace these parts, we understand them, we negotiate with them and we ill raise them to a new vibration. This takes consistent work and some time. Most importantly it takes willpower and the human being does not have infinite will-power. How do we see this in our life?

In our daily life we do so many things that take away from our store house of willpower. We wake up in the morning. If we feel rested then we have a lot of willpower and we can use to get through the tasks of the day. If we don’t feel rested then we have less willpower and we don’t get as much done. Then there are people who have exercised their muscle of willpower and others that haven’t and so this is why some tasks look very big, nearly impossible for some but not for others. Towards the end of the day when most of the willpower is spent it is easier to make choices that are not aligned with the kind of discipline we would like for example have another scoop of ice-cream or a slice of pizza. It is much harder to exercise you will-power successfully in an environment that tempts you consistently. However when we have habits formed then it is much easier to follow along with these patters.

So how are you using your willpower? How much of it goes towards noble and meaningful causes?
How is your environment affecting you? Inspiring you to reach higher or tempting you to go lower?
What kind of habits are you building? The building of habits is a continuous process and it is often more effective to work internally for changes to manifest externally rather than the other way around.