I am reading adventure novels written before the 1930's and I notice one thing: the protagonist has a sense of nobility, strength of character, virtuosity, but most important they have exceptional emotional control. For an example of a "nice guy omega" transforming into an "alpha" read Smoke Bellew by Jack London. The transformation happened in the cold northern tundra of Canada, fraught with peril and goals. HOW does one achieve emotional control and build a strong character? I feel it is achieved in four ways: 1) achieving something great 2) surviving a near death experience 3) forcing yourself to be unreactive 4) Having a code by which you live. But maybe i'm wrong?

When people talk of 'false friends' giving 'false promises', from experience I have noticed that it occurs to people of weak character (it has happened to me) but towards men of strong character these rules do not apply? I have been trying to achieve control over my emotions (not really control -- more like not resisting them, merely observing them) and what I have noticed by observation of my emotions was that I am always full of 'wants'. I 'want' this, I 'want' that, and yet I pay no heed to the present moment. But I always find myself slipping into the way I previously was -- like a fog of thought that covers the mind -- a fog that I have begun to notice more often and have thus been trying to bring myself into the present....but its damn hard

I am curious though, the authors of old that wrote strong characters, deeply rooted in their masculinity, unperturbable like an oak tree in a storm, that had control over themselves and their actions, that live with no regard for the future, being fully content with the present moment -- do these men truly win the hearts of women like the authors wrote? Or is it merely an ideal? Would it work now?

This is something I have never experienced, but that is an ideal in my mind. Maybe someone can shed some light on this?