Today, my physiotherapist George, and I, talked about stress and how others' force can break us down. He said that there has been a study on two rats, sitting in each a cage with a hamster wheel in it, connected. One of the rats got to decide for itself when to run in it, while the other rat never was allowed to choose when to run, but simply had to when the first started. The first rat grew strong and healthy, while the second rat soon lost its stamina and became weaker. All because of someone else's force.
This reminds me of McGregor's Theory X and Y, as shared in my book The Call for Divine Mothering, where authorities and managers tend to either believe in a person's ability naturally as their starting point, which allows for that person to thrive, or assume that we're lazy and not at all motivated to work, which creates less productivity and more complaints. Thus, people with this type of negative outlook on life and others, especially in managerial positions, tend to rather think of force as their means of achieving goals that validate their outlook. Instead of just having resepctful dialogues on equal terms!
One of the cornerstones in life-coaching also is, to enable a sense of empowerment for our clients and indeed support and encourage them to make conscious choices. Practicing presence, I think, enable us to exercise our willpower more, so that we indeed actively can contribute to our own improvement.
When society and authorities dare to trust in their citizens, we will thrive. But, never by force.
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