Control Alt

Laws control the lesser man… Right conduct controls the greater one.

Mark Twain

Thinking about the Fireside Chat from yesterday, I stumbled upon an idea of control. Therapists tell patients over and over that a patient can only control their own actions. But Mark Twain thinks that there is an idea of “right conduct” that can control a person’s actions. I quit smoking; is this a “right conduct” issue, or me exercising control over my actions?

Twain theory: Smoking is harmful to myself and people around me. The “right conduct” is not to harm myself or others. 

Therapy theory: Smoking is an action that I can control; no one else can control it for me. If today I choose not to smoke, I am exercising control over my own actions.

I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle of these two theories. Of course, there are laws controlling where I could smoke, but those didn’t make me quit. Right conduct is a pretty amorphous idea, so it’s difficult to pin actions on the vagueness of the shape. The idea that I could control actions that were harmful to myself and others was a radical idea, especially in the face of nicotine addiction. But that reality always existed; I could always control my own actions. What is the linchpin holding these two theories together? What is the trigger to the control? 

I want to know what the control trigger is because I am feeling very in control lately. I am feeling like I can make any change I want to in my life. We have decided to make a plan to be debt free within a fairly short amount of time. This would have overwhelmed and terrified me not two months ago; I would have been convinced that there was no way that we could make this happen. Now, with a plan in place for a new kind of life, I feel energized and happy, Motivated.

What is the trigger?