Discipline

"The time is now, the place is here. Stay in the present. You can do nothing to change the past, and the future will never come exactly as you plan or hope for."  Dan Millman 

Every year, close to my birthday, I check Dan Millman's book The Life You Were Born To Live for any insights into the coming year...this year being the year I turn 60.


I am a 26/8 number, meaning throughout the cycles in my life, I go through a two cycle, a six cycle and an eight cycle. But even though I retain these numbers throughout my entire life, there are other regular, progressive cycles through all of the primal energies expressed by the numbers 1 through 9.

So, in addition to my regular numbers, my birth numbers and life path numbers, the number of  this year in the nine year cycle will also influence my life.


This year, according to Dan Millman's book, I am in a fifth year cycle. This year, it is all about Freedom and Discipline. It is time for opportunity, of many options and choices. It's a time for celebration.


Sounds good. And then I went to the section of the book where the life purpose for the number 5 is dissected and explained. Mmmmm...not really all that good...

There are challenges associated with freedom and discipline. The freedom is inner...and I have not liked the word 'discipline' for most of my life. But here...here on this page it states..."Discipline is the key in that it provides the focus, commitment and inner strength that overcome lack or limitation".

So. Much as I dislike discipline, it seems I will have to apply it if I am to find inner freedom, and by finding that, I expect I will find outer freedom and adventure. But that word discipline fights with the word freedom, in my book.


And then...then I read that unless I apply focus and discipline, I will develop skills in many areas, but master none. I will skim across the surface of life, touching down in many areas, but ultimately never reaching the depths of any.


Hmmm...that sounds a lot like me. And I don't really like that.


In the book, Mr. Millman writes by deeply knowing one thing, we can know many things. He tells me that if I stay with one thing long enough, past the point of boredom, I will break through into the space where all fields connect.

Really? For much of my life, I have studied a subject, until I get bored. How about that!


And then, after I have mastered discipline and focus, I gather, I will find the opportunities, options and choices this year can bring. But I don't know for sure that I can get past the boredom.

So I looked up the Law of Discipline. And right there, on the first page is a quote from Julie Andrews. She states..."Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly."


Discipline, as defined by Mr. Millman,  is a habit of doing just a little more, going just a little deeper, staying with something, pushing through it. He says discipline recognizes that boredom means we are beginning to get it.

He tells me if my goal is bright enough, if I keep my eye on the bright light that signifies my goal off in the distance, I will manage to work through the swampy guck which threatens to muddy the strength and determination required to reach it. 


All very well and good...but first of all, I guess I'd have to find a goal...which I don't really feel like doing, in my 60th year. 

I'll leave that to the younger folks. But freedom...now, that sounds good.

I've been happy with my inner freedom; I believe, for me, I have figured my spirituality out. But I find, always, it is wise to check all the parts which make up...me.


I check my bodies. The spiritual body is in pretty good shape, I'd say. The mental body is neither good nor bad. The physical body is in poor shape and the emotional body is fair, right now, with the twins about to be born.


So the worst is the physical body. This is interesting because not long ago, after a few therapeutic massage sessions, I decided I wanted to take more control over the arthritis and fibromyalgia which plagues me.


With this in mind, I have been researching nutrition and different diets targeting my ailments. I have been eating differently, but it is all to easy to slip back into old habits...

So here, in this area, is where my focus will lie, this year. I shall see if I can break through the boredom which will surely arise, after a few months of trying a new way.


Discipline.

That's all it takes...