Over the past few posts I covered a few concepts that I believe to be important to the development of one mind and consciousness. Mental structuring the importance of external inputs when it comes to structuring our minds, while avoiding dogma and being aware of the effect we have on others can alter the way we look at ourselves and the world around us. The next area I would like to cover is moderation; this covers moderation in the way we think but also in the way we act. I think self moderation and discipline is the cornerstone to living a healthy and happy lifestyle.
Moderation-
Similar to the manner in which “black and white” thinking negatively impacts our state of mind it can also negatively impact the manner in which we act. We live in an age of “Abstinence and Decadence”, where you are either sober or an addict. To see evidence of this false dichotomy we need to look no further than the rhetoric of crash diets and substance use programs.
I find a multitude of problems with this kind of thinking. First, it sets up many people for failure; if an “addict” is consistently told he is an addict, and that as an addict one drink will send him into full blown relapse, then that person will likely experience a full blown relapse after one drink because they have been primed to think and act that way. Similarly, many people who experiment with crash diets experience the “fuck its”, where one small slip in the diet is used to justify further deviation from the diet. Absolutist thinking in these domains often means that a minor lapse in behavior is used as a justification for full blown regression in behavior.
Secondly, this dichotomous thinking bleeds into the manner in which we label behaviors. Believing that abstaining is inherently good and decadence is inherently bad, while the reality is that either extreme can lead to harm. For instance: anorexia and bulimia carry health risks that are just as detrimental as obesity; excessive drug use is clearly awful but many drugs have perfectly safe medicinal and recreational uses; many vitamins and supplements have perfectly good uses but excessive supplementation can lead health risks such as kidney and liver damage. Moderation is key when it comes to most things.
Finally, practicing moderation offers a plethora of positive effects for the mind. It will help you build confidence, allow you to take more responsibility for your actions, and give you the chance to build more willpower over time.