{"id":102,"date":"2009-08-16T09:56:52","date_gmt":"2009-08-16T19:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quilldancer.com\/meditations\/?p=102"},"modified":"2009-08-16T12:13:46","modified_gmt":"2009-08-16T22:13:46","slug":"self-control-a-word-study-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quilldancer.com\/meditations\/2009\/08\/16\/self-control-a-word-study-day-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-Control &#8211; A Word Study &#8211; Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Self-Control<\/strong> <em>n.<\/em><br \/>\ncontrol or restraint of oneself or one&#8217;s actions, feelings, etc.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #333333;\"><em>syn.<\/em> self-discipline, self-restraint, willpower, levelheadedness<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s Verse: <strong>Proverbs 25:28<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Losing self-control leaves you as helpless as a city without a wall. [CEV]<\/li>\n<li> Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control. [NIV]<\/li>\n<li> A person without self-control is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out. [The Message]<\/li>\n<li> He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls. [KJV]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Biblical Connotation<\/strong>:<br \/>\nDuring Biblical times, if a city was without a wall it was without defenses and could easily be destroyed from the inside.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Contemporary Connotation<\/strong>:<br \/>\nIf we are without self-control, we destroy ourselves from the inside.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Journal Response<\/strong>:<br \/>\nA lack of self-control leads us me to destroy myself.  Without self-control I am vulnerable to every whim or want that tickles my fancy.<\/p>\n<p>1.) <strong>Spending Habits<\/strong>:<br \/>\nI managed to control my spending habits, first by exercising the self-control of not looking at shopping ads or television commercials.  I learned very quickly that I could live without &#8220;impossible to live without&#8221; things is I didn&#8217;t know they existed.  The next thing I did to control my spending habits was to shop with a list that contained only <em>needs<\/em>.  If I picked up an item not on my list I could not put it in my cart until I answered the following questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Can I live without it?<\/li>\n<li> How will this change my life for the better?<\/li>\n<li> How will this change my life for the good?<\/li>\n<li> How will I feel about this next week?  Next month?  Next year?<\/li>\n<li> Who am I trying to impress with this purchase?<\/li>\n<li> What am I willing to sacrifice to have this?<\/li>\n<li> And finally, if the impulse purchase item in question costs over $20.00, I am not allowed to buy it until I have waited at least 24 hours.  If it cost over $100.00, I make myself wait at least 3 days before purchasing &#8212; and as a result I most often don&#8217;t purchase the item at all.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2.) <strong>Impatience<\/strong>:<br \/>\nMy first day of school as a brand new teacher I gave myself a lecture on self-control.  &#8220;You may not be impatient with the students over your own mistakes.&#8221;  That was a biggie because often frustration &#8212; be it with myself, a stubborn bottle top, unexpected delays, or someone else&#8217;s behavior &#8212; tweaks my temper.  I&#8217;m human so I&#8217;m impatient, that&#8217;s to be expected &#8212; however, routinely  giving in to that impatience and taking it out on others isn&#8217;t acceptable behavior.  Now when I feel myself growing impatient I have some questions I stop and consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Why am I impatient?<\/li>\n<li> Is it fixable and who needs to fix it?<\/li>\n<li> How quickly can it be fixed?<\/li>\n<li> What is the fairest and easiest way to handle this?<\/li>\n<li> If it can&#8217;t be fixed, how do I work around it?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Generally just asking the questions alleviates the frustration.  For some reason petty annoyances that when indulged carry enough power to start a world war, simply dissolve under careful scrutiny.  If the frustration does not dissipate, then I have counter measures in place to alleviate the problem; and while one of those methods is confrontation, it generally isn&#8217;t a snarl or a growl, but a statement of fact and a suggestion or request.  &#8220;Johnny, that pencil thumping is getting on my last nerve.  Please stop or I am going to get irritated and nasty and I just might cancel recess.&#8221;  Such steps usually get compliance.<\/p>\n<p>3.) <strong>Weight-loss<\/strong><br \/>\nMy current problem is weight-loss.\u00c2\u00a0 I already know one of the questions I need to ask myself before I eat is, &#8220;Are you really hungry?&#8221;\u00c2\u00a0 But this one is hard for me.\u00c2\u00a0 I have a lifetime of habits and mental conditioning to overcome.\u00c2\u00a0 Food is comfort and saftey and belonging.\u00c2\u00a0 Food is love.\u00c2\u00a0 Where do I get the self-control to break those chains?\u00c2\u00a0 Where do I get the motivation to exercise daily?\u00c2\u00a0 I decided to start here, with this word study.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">~*~<\/p>\n<p>If you have any self-control issues please join me.\u00c2\u00a0 Your thoughts, ideas, successes and\/or failures are welcome in the comments.\u00c2\u00a0 Please stay on topic.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Heavenly Father, please help me as I study self-control to learn to manage every aspect of my life wisely, with thought and deliberation.\u00c2\u00a0 In Jesus&#8217; name I pray, Amen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Self-Control n. control or restraint of oneself or one&#8217;s actions, feelings, etc. syn. self-discipline, self-restraint, willpower, levelheadedness Today&#8217;s Verse: Proverbs 25:28 Losing self-control leaves you as helpless as a city without a wall. [CEV] Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control. [NIV] A person without self-control is like [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10,14],"tags":[15,16],"class_list":["post-102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspirational","category-word-study","tag-self-control","tag-weight-loss"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quilldancer.com\/meditations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quilldancer.com\/meditations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quilldancer.com\/meditations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quilldancer.com\/meditations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quilldancer.com\/meditations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.quilldancer.com\/meditations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117,"href":"https:\/\/www.quilldancer.com\/meditations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions\/117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quilldancer.com\/meditations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quilldancer.com\/meditations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quilldancer.com\/meditations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}