Crucibles & Cauldrons: Part 3 -- Discipline

Crucibles & Cauldrons: Desire, Difficulty, and Discipline

Do you know your own mind? It might seem like a dumb question, but it bears consideration. Think about an average day. Is it mostly filled with activities that you are excited for, or is it mostly a beat-the-clock situation where you hope to just survive the workweek? For many people, the difficulties of the average day can seem unbearable, yet there is no choice but to soldier on, with no glimmer of hope until "retirement" or "vacation." Unfortunately, by the time that day comes, the effects of living with negativity will bear the rotten harvest of physical sickness, mental health deterioration, or alienation from loved ones.

To return to my question about the mind, the answer should be yes. Everyone knows whether or not they enjoy something or are bothered by it. But for many of us, there is a feeling of being stuck in place. Couple that with the panic of running out of time to live, and a miserable attitude is likely. So how do we get ourselves unstuck? Even if you know that the difficulties appearing in your life are trying to teach you something, how do you apply the lesson, and effect change?

The best method for lasting transformation is self-discipline. Again, sounds like a no-brainer, right? (that was a meditation joke). There are many avenues towards developing discipline, and meditation is a universally useful method. So is working out, martial arts, learning an instrument, writing, or any creative outlet. These disciplines are helpful because they build on themselves--going to the gym three to five days a week for just six weeks will bring about noticeable physical change, just as twenty minutes of meditation a day will change the mental landscape of the practitioner. Discipline is what you do every day, or almost. You are what you do every day. If you play guitar five days a week, you're a guitarist. If you work on that novel in furious 6 hours bursts but don't pick it up again for a month at a time between sessions, you aren't really a writer.

So think about that daily routine once more. Is there anything in there that you wouldn't want included in the dictionary definition under your name? Is there anything missing? The parts of the day that seem wretched, boring, or in some way unbearable are the places in your life where applying discipline can effect great change. For most people, it's their job. Many of us dream of what we'd love to do for a living while we're stuck at what we actually do. But until you make it a priority to start practicing being the ideal you, in a disciplined way, you'll stay right where you are. Even if there's a mountain between you and your goals, it won't bother you at all if you're moving earth a little bit each day. Nothing is insurmountable. But don't forget about the double-edged sword that desire can be--remember that you are where you are meant to be, regardless of where that is. But if the difficulties in life are informing you it's time to change, don't put it off til tomorrow. You're not going to do it all or learn it all in one day. If you want to be something, you have to take one step at a time, even if it's a crawl. You'll be surprised how rewarding the process of inching along can be, in comparison to the misery of being stuck in a difficult place.