TOW: Discpline

I have been lacking some discpline this week. You might have noticed that because my posts are up two days later than they normally are. And I have been going to bed late, and missing out on going to the gym. And not doing much except watching trashy tv and playing mindless computer games, and then going leaving for work only to get there just in the nick of time...wait, I have something more important to do. I can hear internet tv calling my name, and it says I haven't watched my mandatory three hours of cute pet stunts and stupid videos where people put pencils up their noses.


Have I mentioned I've been lacking some discipline this week?



Philosphy has had a lot to say about the role of discipline in our lives. We can have disciplined minds, disciplined spirits, disciplined bodies, school teachers that hand out plenty of discipline. These are usually nuns.

Aristotle is famous for having said that all good things in life are in the ability to find the mean between two extremes; for example, the difference between sleeping all day and staying up all night. If you can find a mean in there somewhere, you might just wake up in time for work/school/doctor's appointments/watching the sun rise/etc. Life is about a spectrum of choices, and finding the balance in those choices generally leads us to happiness.

Discipline is the act of recognizing where and when you life is out of balance, and taking steps to correct that inbalance. The moment we let something unbalance us, other things start to fall apart as well. One night of bad sleep leads to bad eating leads to less exercise leads to gaining weight, leads to sitting in front of the tv wondering what happened to us that we could ever let ourselves 'become' a certain kind of person that we didn't expect or want. A tiny step backwards here, a misstep there, and suddenly we're on Weight-Watchers ten most wanted list. Or we've spent our entire budgets for the month without realizing it. A little bit of imbalance suddenly becomes a whole lot of pain. To prevent this, it's imperative we spend time with ourselves, thinking about what is really important in our lives, and what can wait until we have room on our plates for it.

So, take part in self-discipline awareness this week. Tie up loose ends, start new projects, and recognize what needs to be done to get you to your goals. Don't let items that are time-wasters take over your life and personal goals and values. There's nothing as embarassing as going through life with the label of 'too lazy to get what they wanted in life.'