Self-Control Part 1- Fruits of the Spirit & Mantras

Cupcakes from The Cupcake Shoppe. My weakness!

For obvious reasons self-control is an important part of living a healthy lifestyle. If I ate every cupcake that I wanted to or gave into every impulse to purchase candy at the checkout line I'd quickly relinquish my goal of maintaining a healthy weight. There are many areas of our lives where a little self-control can go a long way including our spending habits, overall diet, alcohol consumption, time-management and others.Exhibiting self-control can be a significant challenge. One of the things that you can do to help improve self-control is to create an environment that limits your exposure to temptation and is conducive to healthy eating and activity - this will be discussed in a later blog.

First, I want to take a look at what the bible say about self-control. We know that self-control is one of the fruits of the spirit (see Galatians 5: 22 - 23). As you may know a "fruit" is a spiritual gift that we are blessed with when we are truly seeking and following God. If self-control is something that you're struggling with, ask yourself, how has your walk with Christ been lately? I too am constantly examining this aspect of my life.

One thing that I've found to be helpful in improving self-control is to find a mantra that can encourage and reinforce your goals in times of temptation. It's helpful if you repeat your mantra over and over again--out loud or silently to yourself--when there is "downtime" such as when you're washing your hands, walking the dog, brushing your teeth, etc. The goal is for your mantra to become ingrained, an automatic response.

One of my mantras is: "I will nourish my body with healthy foods".

Other mantras may be: "I am in control of my actions" or "I am a lean, healthy runner."

You may choose to use scripture as your mantra such as: "I can do all this through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13)

Regardless of what you choose, your mantra should be a positive statement; it should encourage you and build you up. Mantras such as "I will not eat junk food" or "I will not watch TV" have a more negative connotation and may leave you feeling unenthusiastic or dejected. I encourage you to give it a try for a week and see how it goes. Feel free to post a comment to share your mantra or to let me (and others) know how or if it worked for you!