Creating A Loving Discipline
What is your practice of self care? True self care is a trifecta of maintaining the health of the body, the emotional heart, and the intellectual mind. For many, the physical body is the primary step of action. For those concerned over looks, weight, or maybe motivated by physical ailments, there are incentives to be in better physical health. Often times, the mind and the emotional heart are less a priority in self care. The results are difficult to measure and social conditioning suppresses the sharing or discussion of thoughts and emotions. Faced with such opposition, how does one create a practice of self care? The answer is through a loving discipline.
Every day is an opportunity to create a practice or expand an existing one. A practice is a conscious reconditioning of behavior to be life affirming. How one goes about it will be a unique experience. The importance is in recognizing what can be done to holistically enhance us all. One of the easiest tools available is meditation. Resting with the eyes closed will shift one’s awareness inward. Focus on the movement of the breath, as it flows throughout the body. This focus on the natural flow of air will bring insights. Where is tension held? How deep does the breath travel? Is the mind full of chatter with repetitive thoughts? These observations are insights to your current attachments. Anything that distracts or detracts from the peace of the mind is an attachment. Practice easing into the stillness by releasing the external world for 5 minutes. One day may be more challenging than the next, but that’s ok. It is all a loving discipline.
Self care also involves your emotional health. Each day we can experience a wide range of emotions; happy, sadness, joy, anger, jealousy, love. Observe the emotions you are feeling and how often you experience them. Who are the people that bring out these emotions? You have absolute sovereignty over your peace of mind. No one can take away your peace without your permission. If sadness, depression, anger are present, what shifts need to occur? What healing is possible? A daily practice of checking in with your emotions will help assess what is working in your life and what is harming your well-being. What are you holding onto that is creating pain, sorrow, or agitation? Are you willing to let them go and begin anew?
A loving discipline is cultivating an awareness of behaviors, patterns, and beliefs that elevate consciousness. Committing to such a practice is necessary in order to shift out of old patterns and habits. When we truly recognize what no longer nourishes the spirit, we can give ourselves permission for our old habits, stubborn beliefs, and toxic relationships to fall away. In their replacement will be those who assist in the elevation of consciousness - including people, work, food, communities, and activities. Over time, this reinforcement will help maintain a spiritual discipline. When the ego mind revives old beliefs and patterns, an evolved awareness is essential to self correct oneself. Cut the chords to the past by releasing any sense of pain, judgement, guilt, and shame which vail your ability to express the Divine Light.
It's up to each of us to make the inner shift to awaken. So many of us delay our spiritual awakening until our days are numbered, missing out on a life lived to the fullest potential. Can you commit to a loving discipline in your spiritual practice? Meditate, expand your perspectives, seek wisdom, and witness the Divine around you. Wake up from persistent illusions and remember the truth that you are Source incarnate. As you ascend your consciousness, you will inspire others to do the same, and the world will have been made a better place along the way.