Posts Tagged ‘self-discipline’

In today’s society people often view acceptance as resignation, giving up, cowardice, retreat, or other unappealing descriptive words. The society that worships, praises, and publicizes Yang energy, the energy of ‘doing,’ typically has little understanding for the power of Yin. Yin energy imagines, envisions, perceives. Yang manifests. We need both.

Yin is a warrior’s path. It is the path of acceptance, before reaction. As an example, the martial art Aikido is defined as a way of unifying with life energy or “moving Zen,” or as “the Way of harmonious spirit.” Aikido is an art that practitioners use to defend themselves, while also protecting their attacker from injury. Read the rest of this entry »

Choosing what you allow and keep in your life gives you a sense of having control of your happiness and your future. If you are hoarder, or living a cluttered existence with too many material possessions, know that it is limiting your spiritual growth and personal fulfillment. The path to enlightenment is not paved with stuff… and more stuff. Maybe it’s time to rid yourself of those things that no longer serve a purpose in your life?

Releasing clutter is a mental thing. Millions of people worldwide suffer from what professional organizers and psychologists call ‘hoarding.’ Most people that have this problem don’t recognize this pattern in themselves, until their lifestyle is really out of control. Clean out all your closets in your home and in your mind. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s okay to feel afraid. You have an excellent built-in system for self-protection. There are many legitimate fears such as raging house fires or menacing wild animals, and your body is designed to trigger fight-or-flight responses to help you in times of great peril.

However, these are not the fears that we are referencing here. We are speaking of the ingrained fears that manifest because you have allowed yourself to become trapped by a common belief system, or perhaps someone else’s past experience.

Our lesson for you today is to nurture your ability to step back and evaluate these fears before allowing them to take hold and prevent you from living your most exciting life, becoming your very best self or, worse, crushing your potential. Read the rest of this entry »

As a child, I always enjoyed parables, and even in my middle years I still like listening to a story that has real meaning behind it. Recently, I discovered a fabulous story.

A young Cherokee child gets into an argument with one of his peers whom, until now, he felt he had been on good terms with but on this occasion, however, felt that the other boy had been most unjust to him.

In anger, the Cherokee boy runs off to seek advice from his wise grandfather, an elder of the Cherokee tribe, who loves teaching his grandchildren all about life. After telling his grandfather of his injustice, the old man wistfully looked at his grandson and said that he too, in his life, had similar experiences that resulted in him feeling great anger. “It is like there is a fight between two wolves going on inside you,” said the old man, “and indeed a terrible fight.” Read the rest of this entry »

In truth, no one can really help anyone else. We can share our experience, strength and hope. And all the great self-help tools are just that – tools. Tools don’t use themselves… people use tools.

Motivational speeches and mutual encouragement can indeed be helpful. There is obviously a reason why the motivational speaking field is a billion dollar industry. However, it can become a kind of drug. Motivation ultimately needs to come from a Higher Source and an internal source. Otherwise we risk becoming a mere slave to someone else making us feel good.

Additionally, motivation is not always the necessary ingredient. Sometimes we simply need some self-discipline – which is currently not a popular trend in our society. Read the rest of this entry »