Self
There can be many barriers to feeling healthy. Stress, depression, anxiety, emotional pain, and unwanted behaviors can all be examples of unsuccessful attempts to balance our conflicting needs and requirements within ourselves. Violence has become commonplace within families and on the streets. Acting out is rampant in our schools. Obesity and anorexia are near-epidemic proportions. People are faced with crippling debt. The irresponsibility of parents is costly to their children, and the irresponsibility of managers, doctors, and teachers is costly to their employees, patients, and students. By failing to deal effectively with the stresses and pressures in their own lives, individuals add stresses and pressures to the lives of others. Many people today have had enough of this. They feel like the world is raging out of control, and they're fed up. They want to crack down, achieve discipline, and make those around them behave healthier. Politicians who call for more accountability, who view the problems in terms of morality, who say it's time to tighten control. Control is an easy answer. It assumes that the promise of reward or the threat of punishment will make the offenders comply. It has been increasing clear control does not work. Attempts to apply stricter discipline have been largely ineffectual, and the widespread reliance on rewards and punishments to motivate responsibility has failed to yield the desired results. Solutions based principles of control and rigid authority, are exacerbating rather than repairing the problems. An alternative approach is not to blame and control, but to address the factors that can lead people to behave more responsibly.
Distinction between whether behavior is autonomous or controlled. The meaning of the term autonomy derives from being self-governing. To be autonomous means to act in accord with one's self—it means feeling free of choice in one's actions. When autonomous people act from their true sense of self, they are being authentic. The issues of autonomy and authenticity, as opposed to control and alienation, are relevant in all aspects of life, including spousal, parent, siblings, new in-laws and every work and social activities we do.
