WRITINGS BY THE MOTHER
© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust

Strengthening one's will

3 November 1954

Mother, how can one strengthen one's will?

Oh, as one strengthens muscles, by a methodical exercise. You take one little thing, something you want to do or don't want to do. Begin with a small thing, not something very essential to the being, but a small detail. And then, if, for instance, it is something you are in the habit of doing, you insist on it with the same regularity, you see, either not to do it or to do it--you insist on it and compel yourself to do it as you compel yourself to lift a weight--it's the same thing. You make the same kind of effort, but it is more of an inner effort. And after having taken little things like this--things relatively easy, you know--after taking these and succeeding with them, you can unite with a greater force and try a more complicated experiment. And gradually, if you do this regularly, you will end up by acquiring an independent and very strong will.