Discipline Yourself To Freedom!

Discipline yourself to Freedom! (Do give yourself some time to watch the video, it is worth it.)

When most people consider discipline they think of punishment and correction but there is another side to discipline, a side that leads you to ‘excellence.’

I have heard it said that ‘good enough is the enemy of excellence,’ I must agree as I recognise whenever I have used the phrase its usually been because I have had enough and decided to stop not because it couldn’t be improved on.

When I read this section in Steven Covey’s 8th Habit From Effectiveness to Greatness I had to re-read it again and again and again because it impacted on me greatly.

Most people equate discipline with an absence of freedom. “shoulds kill spontaneity.” “There’s no freedom in ‘have to.‘” “I want to do what I want to do.  That’s freedom, not duty.”

In fact, the opposite is true.  Only the disciplined are truly free.  The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions.

Today’s post was triggered from reading a blog that I follow from David Kanigan  http://davidkanigan.com/2014/01/05/really/I considered the time and practice, attempts and failures, and perfecting Tatsuo Horiuchi would have had to have made, in order for him to be the artist that he now is.  I then remembered Willard Wigan who I first heard about around 4 years ago. A name I would never of recognise and I believe many still wouldn’t recognise today. His ability totally blew my mind and he was someone that many so called educated people disregarded in his early years.  The discipline he has mastered since 5 years old has grown or heightened in order for him to now produce the pieces of art he now does.  He works on a Micro level, a level most  would dismiss as an impossible level for a human.

He works on a Micro level, a level most  would dismiss as an impossible level for a human.

He has learnt to slow his heart beat and breathing down; he works between heart beats and his pulse now acts as a jack hammer in order for him to chisel his pieces. He has taken the very things we do on a day to day unconscious level into tools and boundaries that shape the world he works in. He works on a scale and a level where everything we understand as normal in our everyday environment is a challenge and needs a new level of ingenuity in order to manipulate and craft his sculptures.

These disciplined individuals have now ‘Disciplined themselves to freedom,’ because their gift has created their world of freedom.  They now work in a realm where an extremely limited number of people find themselves as they are unique in what they do or the ground breakers for others to follow.  From this freedom they have benefited in financial wealth that affords them what many often desire for but wish to eliminate the pain in order to acquire it.

I in no way expect to achieve what they have done, in what has been and taken years for them.  But I can chose to be more disciplined in my attitude towards my goals and dreams. I am one who is definitely impacted by my moods and at times a victim of my passions.  Pushing past them in order to achieve something greater in the long term, has defeated me in the past. But I recognise that change can be incorporated at anytime of my life if I choose to, and disciplining myself is definitely something I will do in order to achieve the goals I currently have in motion.

Being disciplined in order to learn and  perfect a skill is nothing new.  Timothy was directed to ‘study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’ 2 Timothy 2:15

In other words, study hard and learn to hone your gift so that you are not left embarrassed under scrutiny because what you teach your student is accurate  rather than flawed. We all have gifts that we can work on and perfect during our life time. What ever the gift you are given embrace a more disciplined attitude in order  to increase it.

Be the change you want to be until next time, have a wonderful day.

 

Aquene7

Peace