But awareness is not enough. Without genuine tools to control the mind, we are still wrestling the grizzly bear. It takes monumental discipline to say no, even though we feel hungry, even though we want to fill-in-the-blank more than anything. In the midst of a craving attack, almost no one can say, “I will not do it,” and then in fact abstain. Why not? They lack the necessary discipline.
My father has that kind of self-control. While he was a smoker for many, many years, when he finally decided to stop, he did just that. He quit cold-turkey and never smoked again. He was so disciplined he could do what no one else I know could do: eat a Cadbury chocolate bar one square at a time and have it last for weeks. Think about it. How many of you could do that? He would keep one of these chocolate bars, the ones with the raisins and the nuts, hidden away in the top shelf of the pantry and eat a square maybe once every few days. How did he do it? He said it was because he was raised in conditions where you had to make what you had last for a very, very long time, because you didn't know when you would get it again. But our culture of instant gratification is completely different. We want it, we buy it. Sure, most of us can eat that Cadbury chocolate bar one square at a time, but it will be gone by the end of the night. Yet in my study of well-disciplined people I have found that most if not all of them employ the mind control method I will soon describe, whether they are aware of it or not.
How do we control the mind? How do we gain control of our thoughts? The answer is simple: control the breath. For thousands of years the yogis of the East have known that control of the mind begins with something much easier to control: the speed and rhythm of our breathing. In yoga this practice is called pranayama, which means life force control.
actions, controlling our eating patterns. If we could simply catch ourselves in the process of thinking and begin to direct our thoughts toward our goals—our appearance, say, and overall health—that would be a start. With some awareness of our thoughts comes the possibility of controlling them.
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