Posts tagged Self Discipline
How to Increase YOUR Self Worth and Appreciation
Sep 9th
I have been going through some personal stretching, questioning and developing (as always!). I feel so blessed and fortunate to have many mirrors presented to me in the clients and people I interact with. It never ceases to amaze me that the guidance, advice, strategies and plans that come out of my mouth in a session is often the very thing that I need to hear!!
Something that has been presenting over the last wee while is the issue of worth. I advise people to repeat affirmations of “I am worth it” over and over again throughout the day — the next step is to repeat it to yourself while looking yourself in the eye in a mirror — sounds easy doesn’t it… it is amazing how difficult some people can find this.
Truth is you are worth everything you could possibly dream of and much much more – there is no such thing as lack and limitation other than what you have set up for yourself – you receive what you feel you should receive and no more. Isn’t it time you re-evaluated what it is you think you are worth?
What I want to look at here with you is a correlation between self discipline and self worth… When you adopt a discipline of lets say a 5 minute meditation each day or a 30 minute exercise session every other day – this is a manifestation of your saying I AM WORTH IT. You see it is important to follow through with this idea of worthiness – if you are worth looking after to the finest degree imaginable then does it not make sense that this requires the follow through of what it is your body needs from all aspects of self (mind-body-spirit)?
On the flip side – if you find yourself making excuses about why you do not have the time for an exercise routine, meditation, journaling (whatever you as a whole being requires to lead a fulfilled life) – I suggest that you take a look at how much you are valuing yourself… perhaps it is time to re-assess the worth you have placed on your own well-being.
Have you ever paid attention to the advice given on the safety information on airplanes? In the event of an emergency – oxygen masks will drop down and you are to place them on your face… parents and individuals looking after other dependents are advised to take the oxygen first!! To put that another way – how can you expect yourself to look after others, perform your duties and achieve what you are going for unless you look after yourself first?
If what you are currently doing in life is not working out for you; not achieving the results you know and want for yourself – it is time to look at change!! You are worth it… I am here to support, facilitate and motivate that in any way I can.
On Grief and Depression, Inspired by M. Scott Peck M.D.
Aug 18th
Since mentally healthy human beings must grow, and since giving up or loss of the old self is an integral part of the process of mental and spiritual growth, depression is a normal and basically healthy phenomenon…
~M. Scott Peck M.D., Wisdom from The Road Less Traveled, 2001.
Enter the world of the anti-depressant – the pharmaceutical therapy that “fixes” many who’ve undergone just the sort of latter depression Peck talks about… It doesn’t happen overnight but it can often happen especially if the following is considered likewise.
According to Peck, life for all of us involves the process of giving part of ourselves up continually. It’s a condition necessary to life lived with ‘good effect.’
This is personal change management as we encounter the varying nuances of life including our reaction to them. Change in this way is inevitable unless we bow out of life – which is not really an option for 99 percent of us!
Life is hence all about balancing. It counteracts the things about ourselves we are giving up; it reduces the pain–the discipline of balancing or maintaining life balance.
And Peck nails the crux of the issues of grief and depression here. “The loss of balance is ultimately more painful than the giving up required to maintain balance.” (Italics added.) Most people don’t have the self-discipline to maintain life balance, but life would be far easier if they did have it.
And this is such a pity because what costs less actually delivers more joy and less pain; but we’re duped in not wanting to let go of those things or attributes or habits or relationships – those “bits” of ourselves – that hold us back.
Perhaps this ‘giving up’ process is not too dissimilar to the ‘Let go, let God’ mantra of many recovery programs like AA. It is death to things that constrain us that provides our lives with more meaning. According to Peck this is the secret central to all religion.
Both grief and depression involve a lot of giving up. At some ends both grief and depression are maladjusted forms of giving up – they don’t want to or simply can’t give up those things holding the person back; not “yet” anyway. And surely the very idea that recovery is slow, and the fact we must be patient, should ease the burden.
Grieving and depression are inevitable life phases for us – almost none of us will be exempt.
And then again, surely the wisdom needed firmly in mind is that having the spiritual courage to give up things about ourselves, surrendering them, is the key to warding off symptoms of depression and resolving grief in the first place.
Sometimes it just takes a little time that’s all.
Notwithstanding, the motivation to ‘give up,’ with good effect, should presumably be what we should be aiming for – to maintain balance through effective application of self-discipline.
? 2010 S. J. Wickham.
Peck also says, continuing his quote from above, “… [depression] becomes abnormal or unhealthy only when something interferes with the giving-up process, with the result that the depression is prolonged and cannot be resolved by completion of the process.”
