Each one of us is given the power of free choice and therefore has the responsibility for each of our decisions that we make each and every day. This means, in short, that we live in a world, where we are not automatons, we are not mindless machines, but each of us is given our own consciousness that allows us to be the person that we desire to be and what we become is the result of those decisions. The choices that we make in this life, involved an incredible amount of intricacies which take into account: who we are, our parents, our environment, our friends, our peers, our social setting, and so on and so forth. Not only do we have numerous choices to make, but so too there are boundaries, to which some boundaries are best left uncrossed, some should be carefully considered before crossing, and some boundaries must be crossed.
It is within those boundaries, and what we do about them, that a very important aspect of our personality, of our psychological make-up, comes into play. Just about everyone recognizes that too much of anything, can end up being a very bad thing. For instance, too much candy, too much drink, too much food, and so forth, can take something that was pleasurable and make instead something that is painful or uncomfortable. In order to alleviate this over-satiation of even good things, we must exercise self-discipline and self-control. So too there are negative things that we do not like that can create great havoc for ourselves and others such as too much anger, too much angst, too much envy, and so forth, which can easily take someone that is normally an even-keel person and turn him into someone that is completely unhinged, at least for a period of time.
It is a critical component in any great soul's development to develop successful self-control. God has gifted each one of us with a brain, a mind that we can discipline or a mind that we can let do whatever it so desires, whatever those consequences may be. We are told by wise men that we should "think before we act", and the reason we understand the wisdom of these sage words, is because actions, most definitely have consequences, to which, although we may not know necessarily the end result from these actions, we, in general, have a pretty good idea of where those actions are taking us. It is especially important to have self-control, because humans are absolutely capable of killing other humans, out of anger, or spite, or revenge, in literally a matter of seconds, and this happens day after day. This lack of self-control which perhaps only encompasses a few seconds will in its consequences have lifetime repercussions.
The words that come forth from our mouth, the text messages that we send, the physical actions that we take, are all actions that will have consequences, because we live in a world with actions and reactions. The man with great self-control will be able to maintain his discipline and his sensibility when all around him is chaos and upheaval, whereas the man without that self-control will get caught up into situations in which his decision-making process will easily become suspect.
The great avatars of this world are masters at maintaining their equilibrium, because a mind that is disciplined is akin to a mighty river which previously had been running amok with its massive and dangerous currents before being turned into instead a great hydro-electric powerhouse that brings forth light and energy into this world.