The Role of Discipline and Attitude
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 7:18 AM by Sifu Smith
"Discipline ourselves" is an often used phrase to encourage ourselves or others to behave in a certain way and/or accomplish certain tasks. Discipline also has other meaning and can create a different 'mind-context'. The original latin meaning of discipline is 'teaching,learning, from the latin work 'disciplina'. The term discipline is used today often as 'punishment'; as we correct the behavior of someone or ourselves. It is also less frequently used as the term describing a field of study.
Why talk about discipline to today? Recently a friend and myself were
discussing some 'life fires' they were facing and what impact these
events were having on their life. It was during the conversation that
the importance of attitude came up and one of the most powerful
statements I had ever read. The Dalai Lama wrote the following
statements and when I read them many years ago, things changed for me
tremendously.
"The only places where it is appropriate to apply discipline is in our lifestyle and attitude." This simple statement created tremendous reflection for me, because of some poor habits I had been exercising.
The Dalai Lama also wrote the following about attitude;
"Everyday, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it."
I came from a strong disciplinarian background and the context I had of the term 'discipline' was being punished for poor behavior or failure to meet expectation. When I was in my early twenties and started training with Master Chin we had began practicing Tai Chi, Kung Fu and of course, Posting. Master Chin would say, we must discipline ourselves to practice each day, to hang in there.
You can see the link-up in my mind. My tilted interpretation of Sifu Chin's encouragement created inner-tension, I practiced my posting, and if I messed up an exercise, I would make myself start over and do it without error. There was no fun or interesting experiences. One day as Sifu Chin, my classmate Paul, and myself were talking I shared with them this practice and Sifu Chin told me that I can not do that, it creates an inner tension.
This experience was powerful for me as it made me aware I had to have patience with myself, allow myself to make mistake, but keep working to improve. Rather than punish myself for each error. After nearly 20 years of embracing, applying, and sharing this understanding, I now apply it to the raising of my son.
I encourage you to exercise a bright attitude and allow yourself the personal wiggle room to grow. The discipline is to go out each day and practice and cultivate the inner soil and cleanse ourselves of the stresses and pressures. Some days a great practice, somedays not as noticable, but hang in there. The chi will cultivate and circulate much better in ourselves this way.
The Role of Discipline and Attitude