FIMM Day 4 – Developing Self-control

Welcome to Day 4 of FIMM, the Five-days Introduction to Meditation and Mindfulness ·conducted by Bell the Mind.

Yesterday we observed how thoughts can not only be distracting but also multiply the anxiety caused by sensations, emotions, and yes thoughts themselves.

Many of you mentioned in your forms that you wanted to exercise more, focus more, have better sleeping habits, and stop procrastinating. If you want to really accomplish these things then what you need to develop is self-control. You need to exercise self-control when the task at hand gets difficult and even boring, for example practising a sport or music or writing.

Negative and self-defeating thoughts can distract you, tempt you, and break your self-control. Today we will learn a strategy to exercise more self-control so that we can focus better on what we want to do in life – whether it is exercise, yoga, sleep better, stop procrastinating, or whatever. Research says that students who have better control over themselves, achieve more in life than those who don’t.

This means that you have more control over your temptations. If you have agreed in principle to sit at home in view of the pandemic and then even when your friends call you and your mind tells you to join them – you still stick to your original plan. That is self-control.

If you had planned to go for a run instead of sleeping in late and then when your alarm rings and Chippy, your lizard brain tells you to dismiss it – you still stick to your original plan. That’s self-control. When you do that – you might feel a little discomfort immediately – because the body hates changes – but afterwards, you feel much better because you were in control, not Chippy.

Let us find a comfortable position in a place where we won’t be disturbed and do the meditation practice.

Congratulations for completing Day 4 of FIMM.

Click here to go to the last day’s meditation exercise of FIMM