Sunday, November 25, 2007

Just a Thought: Should and Ought

I should go on a diet.
I ought to do my paper.
I should spend more time with my parents.
I ought to learn how to dance.

Come on, we all do it. We seem to realize the struggles in life and know how to overcome them. Yet sometimes, it never seems to be in our grasp. Something so simple as to watching what we eat or signing up for dance lessons seems to slip our minds, despite the fact we repeat it over and over again to ourselves starting off with I should or I ought to. Of course we know what we want/have to do, but why, sometimes, it just doesn't get done.

I recently read an article about not saying should or ought to yourself. It seems that by telling ourselves that we should/ought to do something gives us relief on our guilt. We punish ourselves by saying we should/ought to do something, and our guilt is eased by our punishment, making ourselves able to live our life while never doing what we said we should do. "I should go on a diet." I know I should, I know I ought to eat less and excersise. By saying this to myself I am comforted in the fact that I know what I need to do and what I want to do. Realizing it makes me feel a little better. This gives me comfort even tho I actually never do it. And if I never do it, what is the point of realizing it.

I will go on a diet.
I will do my paper.
I am going to spend more time with my mom.
I will win 'So you think you can dance?' next season.
By saying will instead of should, you give yourself a push towards your goals. You actually give yourself confidence by saying will, leading you to actually doing something. Your mind is set with doing, so you are more likley to actually do it. By saying should and ought to yourself will make you a citizen of the biggest nation in the world. Procrastination. Well I know im a citizen, hell, I could be king. But maybe I can get away by listening to what I post. Maybe you should too.

Article.

I know it starts talking about relationships and dating and stuff. But hey, it works for anything.

1 comment:

virg said...

Narskis! I love it

Nice find, I will be posting some stuff up! But I got tons of ideas, so we'll see how it goes, I'm gonna message everyone!