How to develop willpower? The influence of society on willpower

To develop willpower, you need to understand what is bothering her. Anxiety, unsettled life and strict moral rules - how to negotiate with them?

Many are interested in how to develop willpower. After all, willpower is an opportunity to be the master of his fate, the opportunity to be better than others and save yourself from a caustic feeling of envy. For example, to a friend who gave birth to a child, recovered up to 100 kilograms, and then lost weight, just doing exercises from the application on the smartphone. Would you be the same?

But, reasoning how to develop the willpower, the majority does not understand at all what it is. It seems like, willpower is the ability to follow the decisions made (everything is correct here). You need to clench your teeth, clench your hand into a fist and clearly adhere to the plan (but for some reason it does not always work). Why is that? In this article, you will not find morality and teachings about how important the willpower is. Rather, it is about those restrictions that prevent the will of will, and how to step over them.

Looking in advance, let's say that willpower is not only self -discipline, but also the power of reason. And this is the thirst for new.

How does physiology interfere with developing the willpower?

Imagine the situation, tomorrow you have an exam. You were preparing for it all day, you strained every cell of your brain to better remember the material. Now we turn in bed and cannot fall asleep. You make a strong -willed decision “you need to sleep”. But from this it becomes only worse.

Your own norepinephrine - Stress neurotransmitter. Its level grows when you need to cope with some difficult task. From norepinephrine, the heart beats stronger, the pressure increases, the flow of blood in the brain increases. But only now you need to fall asleep, not that.

Let's try to understand what can be done, and how to deceive your own brain?

• Reduce the pressure

A little Reduce the pressure, you can massage the points on the neck, where the sleepy artery branches. In the next figure, it is indicated in red. This is pure physiology, the fact is that it is in these places that there are many “sensors” that measure blood pressure. And if you crush and massage this place, then our body will decide that the pressure is too high and will begin to reduce it.

"Sensors" that measure blood pressure are called the Korotil Taurus. There are many such mini-sensors in the aorta arc.

How to develop willpower and calm down in a stressful situation is also prompts the next manipulation. To be more precise, this is a reflex called the names of their discoverers Danini and Ashner.

If you slightly press with two fingers on the closed eyelids, then you will irritate the ends of the trigeminal nerve, these pulses will move into the oblong brain. And, as a result, the vagus nerve will be excited. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, or a system of calm wakefulness. The pulse frequency will decrease and the pressure will drop.

To effectively do this exercise, you must first lower your eyes down, and then close your eyes. Press your fingers on the folds behind eyeballs. You need to do this only a few seconds. They say that if you overdo it, you can even lose consciousness .

The next picture is not very legible, but you do not need to try to poke your fingers into open eyes. The eyelids should be closed. Probably, this reflex has developed so that we relax faster and fall asleep when we close our eyes. The more swelling on the eyelids from fatigue, and the larger their pressure, the faster we fall asleep without doing this exercise.

• Willpower and breathing practices

Imagine the situation: the teacher incorrectly checked your test, and put you the ball below than necessary. You are angry and want to tell her that she is wrong. But you are afraid, because reproaching the teacher is disrespect for the elders. On the other hand, justice is also important. You have to think about how to show the willpower, and make a choice between two moral standards.

Many, when you need to concentrate, draw in imagination the image of a brave person. Once in a difficult situation, he takes a deep breath, calms down, and then makes a dry correct decision. Many books have been written about breathing practices, they are used in the context of oriental martial arts, they were used by shamans and are used by those who are engaged in yoga. All this is entwined with the range of mystery and mystery.

But, from the point of view of neurophysiologists, everything is much simpler. Breathing is a basic or vital human need. And when you hold your breath, you make yourself clear that breathe - That's what is important. And those problems that you are now in captivity are trifles.

How to develop power using a random choice program?

A person has a very interesting program in the psyche. it program of accidental choice or random. Why is it needed, and how to develop willpower with its help? Random programs are needed not only by people, but, for example, mice that runs away from the cat. If all the mice ran away the same, then they would be predictable and they would be caught all. Another random program is extremely important for evolution. If the animals would not be diverse, but would be the same, then no one would have experienced the ice age or flood.

If you cannot fall asleep, close your eyes and run the program of random images in your imagination. Do not think through them, let them change yourself. For example, first a white bear in the starry sky, then an evil gnome, then children on a swing, then a huge fiery sun.

The program of accidental choice on the one hand physiologically sets our brain to sleep, it looks like it. On the other hand, it helps to develop the willpower because if there were no accidents and exceptions from the rules, there would be no life itself. We relieve ourselves of the guilt and a load of moral responsibility, because whoever did not make mistakes did not live.

How to develop willpower interfere, helps household conditions?

When they talk about how to develop willpower, usually mean, the ability not to eat chocolate cake, because it harms health and figure. Or the ability to quit smoking, because the skin is aging from this and teeth turn yellow. Or an effort over yourself to play sports because it strengthens health. In a word, we must sacrifice others with the physiological needs for the sake of others.

And such motivation is usually very strong. For a person, his physiological needs are really important. The most famous example of the structure of needs is Maslow's pyramid.

Physiologists relate to basic vital needs:

• The need to breathe (probably the most critical). About how to use this we talked a little above.
• The need not to feel pain.
• The need for food.
• Safety need.

This list has not the most obvious needs, for example:

• The need for cleanliness.
• The need for grooming. Grooming is when one monkey cleans the coat of another, or the need for bodily contact for people.

It turns out that, for example, that you cannot remove in the apartment or wash the dishes when you decided not to drink more coffee, can shake your willpower. Conversely, the attention and arms of a loved one can give strength.

The basic needs in the foreground in human life seem reasonable. But many who think about how to develop willpower will say that it does not work. Sometimes, for example, it is not possible to drink less coffee, because because of this, socially useful work is inhibited or there is a fear of spoiling relations in the team. And they will be partly right. If we all lived according to the principles of the Maslow pyramid, then in our life there would be nothing interesting. There would be no artists who remained hungry, but created. There would be no people devoted to their profession. And in general, we would all not be the same as it is.

The influence of society on willpower

To the Maslow pyramid, one more inverted pyramid should be finished. This is a pyramid of society’s pressure on man and his willpower. If from a materialistic point of view, the need for creativity is the last. Then from the point of view of the development of society is the main one.

Inborn moral qualities

Neurophysiologists can tell an amazing thing - it turns out that we are moral, highly moraine and fair from birth. Some moral features are recorded at the genetic level and are manifested in the form of emotions. In the list of innate moral qualities:

1. Altruism (desire to help your neighbors).
2. Reciprocity (sense of justice).
3. Hierarchy (We must respect the elders and representatives of the authorities).
4. Cohesion (fidelity to your group).
5. Purity (Incest and other immoral behavior should be avoided).

Nine -month -old kids choose the character of the cartoon that shares everything equally. And at 14 months, children know how to share everything equally themselves. Children were shown a cartoon for 6-9 months, where a yellow triangle climbs a mountain, a red ball helps him, and a blue square-on the contrary, collishes down. Then they brought a tray with a red circle and a blue square, the children grabbed the “assistant” in the image of a circle. The areas of the brain are found in which these same moral qualities are stored. You can read more about this in the book of the neurophysiologist Michael Gazanig "Who is for the main one?"

Willpower and moral dictatorship

Thinking how to develop willpower, you need to understand that these innate emotions can interfere with you.

For example, you want to eat less sweet, but your late grandfather was an excellent pastry shop. And this can already be perceived as a betrayal of his family. And instinctively. You need to be able to include logical thinking, and think that your late grandfather would be more pleasant for you to lead a healthy lifestyle, and not loyalty to culinary traditions.

Carriers is a phenomenon, the rejection of which is written in our genes. But how does this mechanism work? It turns out that we do not perceive how sexual objects of people with whom we spent a lot of time in childhood. And these include not only blood relatives. And also half -brothers and sisters or those who were adopted. Although there is no incapacation with them, and there are no probabilities to give birth to inferior children. Probably, for the same reason, girls rarely marry their classmates. Here, to develop the willpower, means not to succumb to innate emotions, but rather, go against them.

There are more emotional and more complicated situations. Psychologists complain that every alcoholic or addict has its own “chasing mother”, these people are treated, but then they return home, and everything returns to their own circles. Why is this happening and where does their willpower go?

His mother was a good woman: she went to work, pampered it, with gifts, and, of course, loved him. That's just the tantrums and the desire to stick his nose in his affairs, they did not allow him to live in peace. When he was already a teenager, his mother started many hours of conversations with him that he did not need to ride a motorcycle because she is worried. He should not have been drinking and smoking. He cannot have a relationship with women older than him, and even more so if they have children. He should not choose work away from the house because it will worry. And all this could just be conversations. But his mother accompanied them with tantrums. At 20 years, she resorted to and took him from the company of friends, shouting and stories that these are not the people with whom he needed to communicate. She cried loudly in the kitchen, while he went to save so that he would hear and understood. She left him on the table notes with reproaches, and said that if he did not listen to her, then she would have a heart attack.

He was very attached to her. But at times she seemed so insane and unbearable that he felt anger for her. He wanted to shout at her, knit her and put a gag in her mouth so that she would only shut up. This rage scared him himself, he was afraid that he could even kill his own mother. And he began to drown his feelings in wine.

Friends said that he should not listen to constant reproaches, and in general, he is already an adult boy and he needs to show the willpower. From the side they could know that this is just too emotional woman and her son, who is not so bad. And he left the house, but this did not help. His mother still loved him. She worried about his fate, and arranged tantrums on the phone. And he was increasingly drinking more and more, angry because of his own helplessness and somewhere suitable for the willpower.

Let's try to return to our story about the feelings of love and affection that are laid down in us from birth. Turn off the emotions and try to turn on the logic. Does the innate feeling of attachment play a cruel joke in our history? Is it possible from the point of view of the evolution and prosperity of mankind, it is beneficial that the relationship of this son and mother be just like that?

The perpetrators should be punished?

Throughout their entire existence, people expelled too aggressive and selfish individuals from the society, or killed them. As a result, humanity and altruism became part of the 5 moral rules of the genetically laid in us.

• You need to help your neighbors.
• You need to be fair.
• You need to respect the elders.
• You need to be true to your group.
• You need to observe moral purity.

If someone nearby does not comply with these rules, we believe that he should be given, and sometimes we do it even to the detriment of ourselves. The desire for justice and the thirst for driving for misconduct is also embedded in people with genes.

Those who think about how to develop willpower, we do not advise completely neglecting these innate strong feelings. But, you need to clearly understand how instinct your feelings are, and think about the situation with your head, and not emotions.

For example, you decided to run in the morning. And your husband is skeptical of your undertaking. In the mornings, he has scrambled eggs with sausage, plays a computer and leaves you a dirty frying pan. Surely, you will feel that it is unfair. But you must understand that this feeling is instinctive, stop relying on it and take responsibility on yourself.

It can be difficult to develop willpower and show character. There is no separate mechanism in the brain that is responsible for willpower. And any of our decisions made must successfully overcome several levels:

• It is necessary to cope with the correct solution at the level of physiology.
• At least minimal living conditions are also something that cannot be dispensed with. And it is better if the living conditions are good.
• To develop willpower, you need to understand your innate moral feelings and sometimes adjust them if they lead to the wrong consequences that you want.

Video: Neurophysiologist Michael Gazzaniga about the brain and freedom of choice