Where to draw the line between being good to yourself vs over indulgence

[kingroboto]

So this is a constant struggle I have with myself daily. I've decided that I'm going to be good to myself but i don't know what being good to myself actually looks like. I do my best to eat healthy but i sneak in that occasional donut or an Ice cream bar as a treat to myself. Am I being good to myself for offering external pleasures or am I just being over indulgent and ruining my health? 

Am I being good to myself for allowing myself to just lounge around at the end of a long day or am I being lazy and denying myself of a better future by wasting my time away? Some insight would be appreciated

 

[Leo Gura]

This is a very tough line to draw. It cannot be drawn conceptually. You must find it through lots of trial and error and failure.

You know when you are breaking integrity, violating your own high values.

But what makes this so tricky is that blaming and berating yourself only compounds the original problem.

Still, as a newbie, you almost can't help but do it.

This is all part of the problem of self-control. I have an old video called The Problem Of Self-Control which is pretty profound.

You must be both hard-working and disciplined, but also gentle and loving with yourself. Not any easy balance to strike.

I also have a video called: The Paradox Of Development Self-Trust, and one called Freedom vs Discipline. They all touch on this topic to some extent.

[kingroboto]

@Leo Gura well it's good to know that it isn't suppose to be easy. I will check out those videos, thanks ?‍♂️

[aurum]

@kingroboto

I don't think "being good to yourself" has to include things that also hurt your progress. Why can't eating vegetables be a treat?

[Leo Gura]

3 hours ago, kingroboto said:

@Leo Gura well it's good to know that it isn't suppose to be easy. I will check out those videos, thanks ?‍♂️

That's rule #0 in God's handbook: Life is not supposed to be easy.

You can tattoo that one on your chest. It will come in handy for decades to come

[Pilgrim]

11 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

That's rule #0 in God's handbook: Life is not supposed to be easy.

Why is that the case? I struggle with a similar problem as the OP. But isn't life in alignment supposed to feel effortless? Aren't we supposed to find joy in the simple things and isn't competing and the need for achievement and improvement irrelevant? Why is it the case that life is not supposed to be easy then? I know that would be the counter-intuitive thing to do, something that takes energy and hard work will be more rewarding than the "easy"thing in the end. But what about being content no matter what.. couldn't I have an incredibly easy and simple life with barely any responsibility or possessions and just pure being as my focus, being connected to nature and occupied with simple tasks and be totally fine? I guess that qualifies more for a simple life than an easy life, but still I do not get why life is not supposed to be easy? 

[kingroboto]

@Pilgrim where are you planning to become this pure being connected to nature? Are you going to become a sage in the woods? That wouldn't be an easy life at all 

[Leo Gura]

@Pilgrim If it was easy you wouldn't wake up. You would become lost in The Land of the Lotus-Eaters.

By trying to make life easy, it actually becomes hard.