No Limits |
The Freedom Blog™
Discipline
Written
by Steven Griggs | stevengriggs.com
“Without discipline
there’s no life at all.”
Katherine
Hepburn
“Discipline
is remembering what you want.”
David
Campbell
“Many of
life’s circumstance are created by three basic choices: the disciplines you
choose to keep, the people you choose to be with; and the laws you choose to
obey.”
Charles
Millhuff
For
5 generations my family was involved the livestock and farming businesses.
Growing
up in a ranching family meant I started working at a young age. On a ranch
there is always something to do, bucking hay, feeding livestock, sorting and
moving livestock, building corrals, repairing fences, the work never ends.
Starting
as young as I did, I thought it was normal. I loved waking up at the crack of
dawn or even earlier if you were shipping livestock (loading livestock on
trucks), working hard all day, eating some lunch and then heading home in the
late afternoon.
By doing this since
childhood I naturally developed the discipline of getting up early. This doesn’t
mean getting up later is a bad thing but for me rising with the sun helps me to
feel connected to the natural rhythm of the planet.
I love the quiet. Everyone is still sleeping or just getting up and the omnipresent background drone
of town/city noise is just beginning to rise in volume…..
Discipline is probably
the most important aspect of becoming self-actualized. It is the key to mastering
all the practices we need to implement to be free in our lives.
Without discipline we
cannot remain detached. We cannot maintain our integrity. We will not be able to accept what is.
Thus, we will not be
able to maintain the structure we need to live a free life.
How do you find discipline?
How do you become disciplined?
By committing.
Yes, it is a commitment
but not in a negative way because in many ways you are already disciplined. For example, we all
have underlying morals. We know right from wrong. You know what it means to do
the right thing.
This is an example of discipline.
It may not seem like a discipline but it
is. It is a deeper commitment to behave in a certain way, therefore a discipline.
I view discipline as a
sort of actuator. It does not have to be something that you take on
begrudgingly. It is not something you do against your will, it becomes your
will.
I see it almost as a
kind of filter. You allow a mindset of discipline to settle over you and become the
filter through which you view and operate your life.
In fact once you start
allowing a little discipline to “take over”, it grows and expands. It becomes a
part of you. It infiltrates every corner of your life. It enhances you, it helps
you become the best you.
The small steps you
take to implement your practices become self-fulfilling. The joy of being true
to yourself by being disciplined brings a feeling of accomplishment that feeds
you and encourages you to continue.
When you make a
promise and keep it, it is one small reaffirming step. That step leads to the
next and to the next.....
It is not always a continuous
path of success. It never is. It is a journey that requires restarts,
regrouping and recommitting. Sometimes on a daily basis.
But it doesn't matter and
that’s the point of this.
You become disciplined
to maintain your discipline.
There is no failure,
only momentary lapses of discipline.
Get up and get back on track.
Get up and get back on track.
