Everyday Systems: nosdiet: message 1698 of 3212

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[[Diane wrote: One quote that has stuck in my head for years: "Willpower is 

sitting in an ice cream parlor with your friends, drinking black coffee 

while everyone else eats ice cream. Discipline is have a small dish of ice 

cream and later eating less
or doing a bit more exercise to balance out the effect of the ice cream."]]

[Deborah wrote: Most people subscribe to this view of willpower Diane, and 

it is essentially negative...Any diet which expects the Will to soley 
manifest as the ability to say no, is a negative approach. And I believe 

that this common misconception is based on lack of understanding of the full 

range of emotional/spiritual components of the whole person. 
ETC.....(snipped)]

Well, Deb, you're leading me down a complicated road that I'm not quite 

prepared to travel. =) I don't find my quote negative at all. I think it 

makes a helpful distinction. Willpower still seems to me an immature and 

unrealistic attempt to squelch an eating problem without understanding what 

is really at stake, and discipline seems like the only mature, sensible and 

useful solution. Discipline applies to all areas, and I'm afraid I've spent 

most of my life trying to avoid it. Now I'm ready to give it a go. It's 

still difficult, but it's way easier than willpower.

My understanding of life needs to be much simpler than the things you 
describe (which make my brain hurt). =) Take all this as a bit of teasing, 

as it's meant--not a real answer, because I can't get into this kind of 

discussion. One reason--no time! The other reason--I'm a Christian, and if 

I began explaining my own very different principles for life on this list, I 

would only offend people and go beyond the list owner's guidelines and 

intentions.

So I think this topic has reached at least a temporary conclusion. Thank 

you for sharing. I can see that you are excited about what you have learned 

and (properly) eager to share the things you believe in. Perhaps we can 

continue off the list sometime when I'm not so busy!

Diane