Does such a thing even exist? I was introduced to the concept of compassionate self discipline by Cheri Huber's There Is Nothing Wrong With You. The book, as the title implies, is about accepting yourself just the way you are.
When I first read the book, I didn't comprehend it. I thought that it was well-intentioned. The handwriting print was endearing and lulled me into comfort. As a hard core perfectionist, though, the message of the book was lost on me. After about a year, I started to get it. Since that time, I've learned that compassionate self discipline is the practice of doing what you need to do while accepting where you are.
I used to think of discipline in drill sargeant terms. Every time I heard the word I would grit my teeth, buckle down, and plow through. When I couldn't do the task perfectly or get the results I wanted, I would beat myself up, grit my teeth, buckle down, and plow through. I would repeat the cycle several times until I just gave up. My health is the area that I applied the most grit too. Always, in the end, beating myself up. I failed miserably. Finally, I decided to just let it go. So much for discipline.
It was during Bikram Yoga that the idea of compassionate self discipline resurfaced. The instructor kept referring to the "practice". It was all about doing your best, being in the moment. When you're 275 lbs in a room that's over 100 degrees, it's enough to just breathe. The first class I cried when I realized I could not be perfect. I thought it was because I was so unhealthy, but I later realized that it was because my pride was broken. I started to approach things differently.
So how do you do compassionate self discipline? I practice. Everyday, I practice meditation, I practice eating only when I'm hungry, I practice being honest with myself and others, I practice seeing Myself in others, I practice being Myself. I am not perfect. When my mind wonders during meditation, I gently bring it back. If I find myself eating aimlessly, I stop. I have taken the anger and self-hatred out of the equation. It's proving a much better method to develop discipline.
It's not a quick fix, but I am seeing results and I feel sane. You will too!
This article is part of a 2-part series on Compassionate Self Discipline, you can visit http://www.balancedlifecenter.com/blog to read the second part. You can also enjoy a daily inspirational pick me up and insights to help you apply spirituality to life.
Nneka is a lifelong student of metaphysics and spiritual practice. Putting Spiritual Truths into everyday practice is one of her personal goals. Helping people do the same is the ultimate goal of her site, Balanced Life Center - Spirituality Applied to Life.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Listening Within: The Awakening of Intuition - By Julie Redstone
We live at a time when the capacity to hear God's voice speaking within heart and mind has become greater, due to the intensification of light within the physical plane. As a result, even for those who have wandered far away from a spiritual path, the way back is more possible than ever before given a wish to return, and given time and attention paid to the voice of an inner knowing that may have previously been rejected. This inner knowing is what we call intuition. It takes place in silence and in the presence of inspiration that arrives from another level that often requires asking and waiting. Though some intuitive perceptions are primarily focused within the human plane, for example, knowing someone well so that we can anticipate how they might react to something or what they might do, the kind of intuition that may be called 'higher intuition' comes from a different place. It is the voice of understanding that translates messages from the level of the soul where Divine truth, light, and wisdom can be heard, to the level of the personality or embodied self that receives such messages. In point of fact there need be no great difference between these two levels and humanity is progressively moving in this direction. And yet for many there still remains a large gap - a space that makes it more difficult to hear the words that are being whispered to and from the soul. In order to bridge this gap, mind and heart have to be willing and there needs to be at least the beginning of trust in one's capacity 'to know'.
Intuition does not need to be taught; it needs to be allowed. It is a capacity that has always been within us in a dormant state, awaiting our turning to it as a flower turns to the sun. We can start with a small willingness 'to know' more of truth, light, and wisdom as it applies to our own life and to the lives of those we love. We can begin to pray to have the obstacles removed that cloud understanding or diminish our perception of what this truth might be. Prayerful desire to make contact with higher truth begins to open the doors to inner knowing, especially when such desire is accompanied by a willingness to receive and to pay attention to what has been heard or sensed. There are people who 'know' things who do not believe what their inner senses tell them. They invalidate and reject what they feel or believe. This choice begins to close the doors to higher perception as it gives more power to fear - fear of being wrong, fear of being different, fear of needing to change one's life based on what is heard. In order to open the doors to intuition and to keep them open, we need to be willing to hear and know, and we need to be willing to trust.
Trust is not a simple thing, for it often involves a reevaluation of how we have lived our lives. It may be that life has compelled us to be more practical, more focused on the daily tasks of living and providing for others. Or, it may be that we have made mistakes in the past concerning who or what to trust. It also may be that we have forgotten that we have the capacity to feel more, to sense more, or to be more open to life on all levels. Trust involves not only a willingness to receive something from another level of our being. It also involves a willingness to believe in our own capacity to flow with life and to change what needs to be changed on the outside or on the inside in order to do so. There are many who know a great deal but who are afraid to let themselves recognize this because of where it might take them. This fear must be let go of in order to open the doors further to intuition and to the greater perception of light and truth.
Especially today, when there are so many great issues before us as a collective humanity, and so many actions taken that can have a profound effect on all of mankind, it is especially important that we reclaim our ability to know and to trust that gives rise to intuition. To do otherwise leaves us in the precarious position of not knowing what or who to believe - not knowing which direction to go in, in terms of making the world a better place and relieving the immense suffering that currently exists. Without access to the deeper intuitive sense that is part of us, we live at the mercy of public opinion rather than in the presence of truth.
For reasons that are both personal and are part of our belonging to the human family, it is essential, now, for us to open to the light that is present so that we can participate more fully in the collective life of humanity as well as in the circumstances of our own lives. For it is a time in which the planes are coming closer together and we are being asked to do this for our own sakes and for the sake of all - to allow our inner senses to awaken and to become the light-filled beings that we are. The time we are in asks this of us, and for each of us, our hearts ask this of us so that we can begin to solve the problems and challenges that are immediately before us. We can begin with a prayer to open; we can follow it with a period of silence and emptiness in which we do not know and wait to be shown; we can make ourselves ready to become vessels of truth and light. The recognition of intuition's gifts may not happen immediately, but it will happen, for all of life supports this growth in each citizen of planet Earth at this time, and all of life celebrates when one who has left the path of recognizing their Divine self begins to tread the path of return.
About the Author:
For other writings by Julie Redstone see Pathways of Light - http://lightomega.org/PathwaysofLight.html, a part of http://lightomega.org/. For more about bringing the soul-level of experience into everyday life, see the Calendar of 100 Days - http://calendar100.org/ and the Purification section of the Light Omega website.
Intuition does not need to be taught; it needs to be allowed. It is a capacity that has always been within us in a dormant state, awaiting our turning to it as a flower turns to the sun. We can start with a small willingness 'to know' more of truth, light, and wisdom as it applies to our own life and to the lives of those we love. We can begin to pray to have the obstacles removed that cloud understanding or diminish our perception of what this truth might be. Prayerful desire to make contact with higher truth begins to open the doors to inner knowing, especially when such desire is accompanied by a willingness to receive and to pay attention to what has been heard or sensed. There are people who 'know' things who do not believe what their inner senses tell them. They invalidate and reject what they feel or believe. This choice begins to close the doors to higher perception as it gives more power to fear - fear of being wrong, fear of being different, fear of needing to change one's life based on what is heard. In order to open the doors to intuition and to keep them open, we need to be willing to hear and know, and we need to be willing to trust.
Trust is not a simple thing, for it often involves a reevaluation of how we have lived our lives. It may be that life has compelled us to be more practical, more focused on the daily tasks of living and providing for others. Or, it may be that we have made mistakes in the past concerning who or what to trust. It also may be that we have forgotten that we have the capacity to feel more, to sense more, or to be more open to life on all levels. Trust involves not only a willingness to receive something from another level of our being. It also involves a willingness to believe in our own capacity to flow with life and to change what needs to be changed on the outside or on the inside in order to do so. There are many who know a great deal but who are afraid to let themselves recognize this because of where it might take them. This fear must be let go of in order to open the doors further to intuition and to the greater perception of light and truth.
Especially today, when there are so many great issues before us as a collective humanity, and so many actions taken that can have a profound effect on all of mankind, it is especially important that we reclaim our ability to know and to trust that gives rise to intuition. To do otherwise leaves us in the precarious position of not knowing what or who to believe - not knowing which direction to go in, in terms of making the world a better place and relieving the immense suffering that currently exists. Without access to the deeper intuitive sense that is part of us, we live at the mercy of public opinion rather than in the presence of truth.
For reasons that are both personal and are part of our belonging to the human family, it is essential, now, for us to open to the light that is present so that we can participate more fully in the collective life of humanity as well as in the circumstances of our own lives. For it is a time in which the planes are coming closer together and we are being asked to do this for our own sakes and for the sake of all - to allow our inner senses to awaken and to become the light-filled beings that we are. The time we are in asks this of us, and for each of us, our hearts ask this of us so that we can begin to solve the problems and challenges that are immediately before us. We can begin with a prayer to open; we can follow it with a period of silence and emptiness in which we do not know and wait to be shown; we can make ourselves ready to become vessels of truth and light. The recognition of intuition's gifts may not happen immediately, but it will happen, for all of life supports this growth in each citizen of planet Earth at this time, and all of life celebrates when one who has left the path of recognizing their Divine self begins to tread the path of return.
About the Author:
For other writings by Julie Redstone see Pathways of Light - http://lightomega.org/PathwaysofLight.html, a part of http://lightomega.org/. For more about bringing the soul-level of experience into everyday life, see the Calendar of 100 Days - http://calendar100.org/ and the Purification section of the Light Omega website.
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