Control

“You cannot escape the results of your thoughts. Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain or rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal. You will become as small as your controlling desire, as great as your dominant aspiration” – James Allen
The line that caught my eye was “as small as your controlling desire” – it appears to be a positive statement if you look at it by itself because we are taught to control ourselves. Control your temper, control your thoughts, control your behavior, and so on. But really it is a negative concept because that control (not lack of control) is keeping you small.
From here I thought about how you have that small (sometimes loud) voice that denies you, tells you you can’t do this or that – that small controlling desire – is what keeps you from growing, it keeps you small inside your comfort zone.
Don’t speak up for yourself, you don’t want to draw attention. It’s what keeps the addictions for food, drinking, drugs, and so on going, because those desires control you. Eating addictions are a desire to control your body because you can’t control anything else.
I think that if we look at ourselves we will see that we all have this small controlling desire that is trying to keep us small. But once you are aware of that desire, you can notice and then make a conscious decision to change that thought to something that helps you to be as great as your “dominant aspiration”!