Is it true that Russians have the strongest will power? August 2, 2012

image by axinia

Again I am  here with the will power topic. Recently I talked to one American friend about handling difficult situations of “mental discussions” – when you keep arguing with someone in your thoughts, and the person has no idea about it. Apparently it is a widely spread phenomenon. When people cannot speak out they prefer to discuss it “within”. This thing can definitely make one mad!

I remember having such an experience only once in my life, some years back – for two moths I could not stop thinking about some conflict situation. Even though I have a long-term mediation experience, this work-related relationship issue was such a torn! I applied all possible yogic techniques, nothing helped. Every free minute when I was not directly busy with something else, I kept giving my arguments to the person I had an issue with. Isn’t it idiotic? At some point I was so fed up with it and really did not know what to do. And then…I decided to apply my WILL POWER : I started stopping this thinking immediately when I noticed it rising up. The next second I would say “stop it now” and indeed, I managed to completely diminish the issue by using my will power only!

When I gave this example to my American friend and ask him why don’t other people use their will power for solving hard problems, he said: “Well you know this is a very Russian thing, Russians have strong intellect and can use it powerfully. The Western people are weaker in that, they would moan and groan about and go to a psychologist/psychotherapists and wait until someone else will bring the relief. I know several Russians who solved their problems like you did but I don’t know any Westerner who would do that”.

I’ve got the answer on Willpower! May 21, 2012

The question about the nature and meaning of Willpower kept me busy for some time. I even posted about it already twice, but still I could not understand what is the mystery behind. The other day I talked to an old friend about some private issues and suddenly he dropped a sentence that “The willpower is there to overcome the negativity/circumstances/destiny and thus to make another step in the personal evolution”. That’s it, I thought!

For instanse people who had problematic parents and difficult childhood – now they are comfortable in the victim position and say  “you know I have so many problems because of my childhood”. But why not overcome it? The Will Power will serve greatly if one takes to it.

Indeed, what is the fine border between a destiny and willpower? All great spiritual Masters talked about both, that a lot is already predestined and Divine Plan does exist. At the same time a human being has the Free Will, which makes us different from animals. If we use this Free Will we evolve further. Thus, at some point the Free will becomes the Will Power, the force that makes many great things happen.

Obviously today the question of Willpower is not popular. I remember in the Soviet Union we were brought up on the ideals of heroic people – not like Superman, but real heroes, existing people,  people who showed wonders of Will Power in their personal achievements or their work for others… Either in the industrialisation period, or during the Second World War or even after. I find it’s pity that today’s children miss that kind of upbringing. Today they only learn the ego-boosting.

I made my personal experiences with Willpower – not many but still some. I know what it feels like and I know how much courage it demands. And finally it’s a great mixture of thrill and discipline. A strange mixture that makes every personal journey worth tryting.

LOVE

axinia