Published in the journal Psychological Science, a team researchers found that being calm may be the secret to improving self-control. Calm mind being defined as one which neuronal processes slow to take longer to process information with less whirling around of ideas, and ideas being processed in a methodical manner.

Modern society in the US and many other countries have developed a culture where people are too easily riled up about issues and make rash decisions based on emotions rather than taking time to logically think through issues. Worse, we have made this bad behavior of making decisions based on emotions acceptable.

“Self-controlled behavior is important to achieving long-term objectives…” stated author Bastian Schiller.

The study involved recording the brain’s electrical activity of subjects that were relaxed and awake in a controlled laboratory setting. The investigators also recorded the subjects’ capacity for self-control in other ways such as self-evaluation and behavioral tasks while brain activity were being recorded. The study was done concurrently with approximately 50 participants from the University of Freiburg in Germany and over 100 subjects in University of Alberta in Canada.

“Our results indicate that people with greater self-control have a calmer mind, which in itself generates fewer distracting stimuli,” said Dr. Schiller. Despite the two countries where the subjects were located being seperated by ocean and culture, the results were similar and replicable.

Being calm is a skill set and does not come from medications or drugs. It is your duty as man to learn to be calm and develop self-control because only once these skills are developed, can we achieve better outcomes for ourselves and our shared society.

T Kleinert et al. A self-controlled mind is reflected by stable mental processing. Psychological Science (2022).  DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/fzg9y