The Shakespeare Diet

I wonder when Shakespeare penned the words for Hamlet to utter….

Refrain to-night;

And that shall lend a kind of easiness

To the next abstinence, the next more easy;

For use almost can change the stamp of nature,

And either master the devil or throw him out

With wondrous potency.

….if he knew that he would be speaking to the modern day woman starting yet another diet!

Refrain so that there is a kind of easiness to the next abstinence?  

I suppose Ralph Waldo Emerson’s mentor-like words…“That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased.”…should apply to the determined dieter as well don't you agree?

Does every “NO I WON’T HAVE THAT” lead to an easier “NO I WON’T HAVE THAT” later in the day? Perhaps each little victory is not a stand-alone deal but a building block added onto our internal fire-wall that protects us from temptation and allows us to move on down the narrow path to self mastery.

I needed to hear James E. Faust's words that “Self-Mastery is the ultimate test of our character.”

A reminder that self care is not a matter of self indulgence but self respect. So, onward brave dieters! Let's quote the bard and “Master the devil or throw him out.”