Know your true power

There are times when we feel the pull to meditate but are swayed from it by the excuses that spring to mind. We may think that we are too busy, have no time to ourselves, or that we do not have the right place to meditate. Our minds can think of dozens of reasons to put off meditation. But those are even stronger reasons to look past the illusion of the hustle and bustle of daily life and to connect to the place within that intersects with the timeless power and limitless potential of the universe. From that place we can experience that potent stillness that exists at all times, and it is only as far away as our breath.

It might be useful to ask yourself why you would put off something so beneficial to your peace of mind and general well-being. There may be fear that if you were to stop your frantic pace, your world might fall apart, and then you would have to face the undeniable reality of who you really are and the results of the choices you have made. You might be afraid that you will be forced to make huge changes in order to align yourself with the universe and harness your true potential. Sometimes the frustrations of the known world seem less scary than the possibilities of the unknown. But the truth is that when we cooperate with the universe by creating our lives from the truth of our being, life becomes less of a struggle and more of a process of living blissfully on purpose.

Finding yourself alone for a few moments can give you the opportunity to turn within to infuse a sense of calm wisdom to your work. Whenever you can take the time to recenter and refocus, it will remind you how beneficial it is to connect to your source. Then you will make the time for longer sojourns of spirit, because once you are rejuvenated and enlivened by knowing that you are made of energy and light, you can channel the power to create your life in alignment with the highest potential of your soul.

U or the EGO?

Do you really need other people's approval, acceptance, or appreciation first before you can give it to yourself? Absolutely not! Who you are is the energy and consciousness of love itself, and once you consistently realize this and openly shower this love upon yourself and others, you'll be free from everyone's opinions forever. Your ego was "programmed" by society to need approval, acceptance, and appreciation from the outer world. It hasn't realized that there is an infinite source of love beneath it at YOUR core, and that you can have access to it at anytime. The ego is a very ironic creation. It's about as real as your own shadow, and yet we build our entire relationships around its illusionary reality. As soon as you commit to the lightness and openness of your own being, the ego is no where to be found. What's the worst thing that could happen if you decided to let go of other people's opinions about you and chose to love yourself JUST AS YOU ARE 24-7?

One of the greatest secrets to transcending this game is that other people's opinions of you are only a reflection of what they see (or don't want to see) about themselves. Everyone is a mirror for each other. Their beliefs about you are a deep unconscious projection of themselves onto you, just to avoid looking inside themselves. So help out your fellow humans and give them their projections and opinions back to them! For 2011 don't take on ANYBODY'S projections or opinions about you! Stop the relentless ego from scheming to get others to like you, and instead, just practice loving yourself as you are. Be unguarded from their opinions. Let their opinions form freely, and honor that their beliefs are truly limiting thoughts about themselves in the end.

Building Self Discipline

Step by step approach to building Self Discipline

"If we don't discipline ourselves, the world will do it for us."-William Feather

Most of the people confuse building self discipline with increasing the will power. Willpower is more about inner strength and discipline focuses on external control. Self-discipline is the training and control of oneself and one's conduct, usually for personal improvement. Training yourself to be in control of your actions can dramatically change your life.

The first step towards discipline is being accountable for your own shortcomings. It is easy to rationalize undisciplined behaviors in our lives. Blaming outside circumstances, moods, or conditions will ultimately leave you feeling helpless in your attempt to change your habits. The sooner you can take responsibility for errors in discipline the sooner you will be able to turn things around.

Corporate PR representatives understand the value and effect that being responsible may have on the way their company is viewed. Whenever a corporation’s public image is in danger due to negligence on their part, the first statement that the public receives is an acknowledgement of wrong doing and an apology.
Shortly after that, a plan to reverse what has happened is usually put into place. If a car company released a vehicle that has safety issues, there is a mass recall. Then the company devises a plan to ensure that further measures are put into place to avoid a similar incident from happening.

This should be our approach as individuals. Whenever we have a standard that we live by, and we come short of standard, we should first acknowledge the shortcomings and then formulate a plan of action to reverse any damages. From there, we should look to put into place, measures that should prevent those shortcomings from reoccurring. The discipline to stick by those measures will be the key to success.

We need to discipline ourselves on two fronts, personal and professional.

Lets take a look at the personal discipline.
For the most part I am a very disciplined person who has built a reputation among some of my friends as having a large dose of willpower and focus. So how do I fall off the wagon sometimes? I analysed it from different angles and I eventually began to understand why I would stray from my disciplined routine. I began to identify my weaknesses and took action to prevent myself from sabotaging my own goals. One of the major steps I took was the elimination excuses. Now, what, you may ask, are those?
Well, we as a society have gotten very good at accepting excuses as truth. One of the main reasons procrastination is on the rise is due to individuals not being held accountable for their excuses. For example, if you called out from work and you gave the excuse that your kid was sick, it is very unlikely that your employer would follow up to see if you were telling the truth. Instead, you would get a sick leave and when you went back to work someone would ask, “Is your kid feeling better?” We are just as ready to believe the excuses we tell ourselves. Even if we know that they are not completely true, we accept them as truth.
Small lapses in our ability to control that voice in our heads that convinces us to do that thing that we don’t really want to do, result in a lack of control over our cravings, actions, and life. Once you’ve eliminated some of the excuses that have been holding you down, you are ready to tackle your personal problem head-on.

Identify the problem-What is it that you really want to be disciplined in? Do you have a weakness of eating unhealthy foods? Do you watch TV instead of working out? Do you avoid doing errands in your day until it’s too late? Whatever the problem is, narrow it down so that you are clear of where your lack of discipline seems to appear the most in your life.
Remove Distractions-It is Important that you remove those things that inhibit your ability to develop good habits. For example, if you can’t seem to eat unhealthy food when you are at home then remove all unhealthy food from your refrigerator.
Small Steps-Discipline is increased over time. If you begin to make small changes in your routine daily, you will begin to build the discipline muscle over a longer period of time.
Eye on the Prize-Even though you are making small strides towards being more disciplined, it is important that you keep your focus on where you ultimately want to be. Use affirmations to remind yourself of what you would like to accomplish and stay reminded of the negative outcomes that will occur if you do not complete your goal.
Stay Motivated- On the way to becoming self-disciplined, being motivated will give you the extra push you need when you are tempted to fall into your old undisciplined patterns. Building discipline is hard work and that’s why most people don’t have it. But if you can stay motivated enough to make it through the difficult times, you will be one of the few people that have the ability to conquer themselves.

Review -Take the time after each day or week to review what you have done to build your ability to be self-disciplined and note the results of those actions.  Do not expect your life to be completely transformed after one day of self-discipline.  However, there should be at least a small change that you can note and use as a small encouragement.

“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.”-Aristotle

Calming the wild horses of the mind - Self Development

Hi there again…
I have been talking about Self Discipline right? I have also stated that it all starts with the mind. Ok, if you pay a little attention to your mind, you would realise that it seems to move in numerous directions at the same time! The result is a constant chatter in the mind. The thoughts come and go so fast that it is a difficult task to hold on to them!


Exactly!
The first step in self discipline is to stop this chatter and clatter in the mind. In The Bhagwat Gita, Arjun had also been told this, and, he had said to Lord Krsna that it is extremely difficult to quieten the mind ! In fact, it is as difficult as controlling the wind ! To which Krsna had replied that no doubt it is difficult to control but it can be done with suitable PRACTICE. Sure, point taken. The question is what and how to practice?

Alright, we can start by studying our mind first. Sit down in a quiet place and just focus on your mind. I mean just sit quietly and study the thoughts as they arise in your mind. Don’t do anything….Just watch them come and go. You would soon realise that your attention keeps moving away from studying the thoughts! Well, the point here is to do nothing. Everytime you become aware that your attention has wandered, gently bring it back. Do this for 10 minutes everyday for a week and you will find that slowly the bomabardment of thoughts have slowed down in your mind. Once, you have reached this state of mind we would move ahead on Self discipline. You are most welcome to post your questions and I would guide you step by step in your endeavour.

Till next post………

Building Self Discipline

For so many years of my life my self-discipline was terrible.
This lack of self-discipline kept me running around in circles, procrastinating like a king, and always chasing the ‘latest greatest idea’.
Have you ever been ‘there’?
I’m glad I’m not ‘there’ anymore and I work daily on bringing more self-discipline into my life.
Here’s the question.
Whenever you read a great success story, from Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bacchan to famous generals and more, you always hear ‘this’ mentioned.
“They brought great discipline to their work.”
What do the most successful people in the world ‘have’ that allow them to bring more discipline into their lives than the rest of the population? There might be 10 answers. Probably more.
I’m going to focus today on what I believe is the MOST IMPORTANT in order to bring more self-discipline into your life.
If you look at the globe, you see many things. You see millions of people unhappy with their careers, you see millions of people looking for meaning in their lives, and you see millions of people that have accepted the status quo in their lives.
If that’s the choice people make, great, I know you’re looking for more in your life though.
How do we make self-discipline much easier for ourselves?
How do we improve our discipline 1% each day?
What do the ‘greats’ do that other’s don’t?

The mass of people lead visionless lives.

Read this again.
The mass of people lead visionless lives.

I did as well for a long time. A long time.
Remember, what was written thousands of years ago.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
The word ‘perish’ in the past was translated to ‘throw off constraints.”
“Hey, what does that exactly mean?”

It means that when we don’t have a VISION for our lives, we throw off self-discipline, self-control, and order.
(I’d read this 2x).
You see, without a VISION we replay the limitations and negative recurring patterns of our past. Without using our IMAGINATION to build the better you, we use the lack in our past to keep us on a fear driven merry go round.
No fun. Not at all.
You, I, us, WE must do the inner work.
I don’t care what your inner critic has to say. You were BORN with unique gifts, purposes, and talents.
You were born to lead. You were born to fulfill a GREAT VISION.
Maybe it’s being a great parent, a great business person, or great entertainer. It doesn’t matter.
Build the vision for your life. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Let it develop. Cultivate it.
Build it. Hold it. Pursue it.
The greatest gift in pursuing your vision, is WHO you become in the process. (money is important, though in itself it will never give you meaning.)
Be the master artist in your life. Create a living, breathing masterpiece called your life.
Start with a bright, clear vision. Watch discipline and order enter your life in a greater way.
I believe in -you-. The thousands of other people reading this right now BELIEVE IN YOU.
Your greatest days are ahead of you and can’t wait to see you too.
Build your vision 1% today.
Looking back over the past 50 years of my life, I started to wonder...
Why do age-old problems still remain unsolved?
As odd as it sounds, the answer I found is simple. One of the biggest problems we face in the world is the "quick-fix mentality."

* Stressed out? Take a nap
* Feeling down? Pop a pill.
* Gaining weight? Try the diet fad of the month.
* Suffering from anger? Take another pill.

We want results, and we want them now!
BUT: There are NO quick fixes.

At least not at the conscious level. Most of these solutions attempt to solve the problem only on the surface level and completely ignore the underlying problem. Fortunately, the human mind has multiple levels.
So why not take advantage of *all* of them.

Whenever you make an important decision, do you ever get a little voice in your head asking…
“Am I doing the right thing?”
When it comes to the important things in life, like spirituality, health and happiness, it’s normal to second-guess yourself. It’s normal to make mistakes.
It’s normal to feel lost from time to time.
But…
Imagine Having Powerful Answers To All Your Problems Right At Your Fingertips!
I’m not going to lie to you… I don’t have the answer to all your problems. I can’t make your decisions for you, and tell you whether you should take that medication, marry that person, move to that country, or accept that job offer…
But you know who can? Take a look in the mirror my friend, because the answer is YOU.
By the time I am through with thefollowing posts, you’ll have the time-tested solution to reaching into your inner mind, and finding powerful guidance for each and every challenge life can throw at you.
In fact when it comes to spiritual and personal growth, what I’m about to tell you in my later posts about the "how" of self descipline is all you’ll ever need to live the enlightened, happy and successful life you’ve always wanted.