By: Miraval's Tejpal, M.A. M.B.A. Brennan Healing Practitioner
Either you are looking for deeper healing, a meaningful connection to your spirituality or better self-care at the physical level, you often leave Miraval with a true desire to change some of your habits, shift your mindset and connect deeper to your heart.
No matter what you are focusing on, you will count on your discipline to make it happen. However I invite you to rethink what discipline truly is.
If your discipline relies only on your will, it is not going to work. You will crash in a couple of weeks. The heart needs to be the foundation in order to create successful lasting changes. If not, each time you are not matching your expectations, one way or another, you will beat yourself up. If you did not do your meditation today, is it going to be a bad day? If you put on three pounds last week, are you going to hate yourself? Self-discipline has nothing to do with the ability to get expected results; it has to do with the ability to be the disciple of yourself. In other words, you need to be your best friend and truly love yourself no matter what.
When discipline comes from a place of love instead of a place of will, you don’t live under pressure 24/7 and obsess to attain your goals. You stay committed to the real you, not the ideal you, and you forgive yourself instead of reacting in an all or nothing fashion when you get off track.
There are many ways to enhance the ability to love yourself. Start with practicing daily gratefulness toward yourself. Do not practice gratefulness on things you have, people in your life or events that happened; stay focused on you. Discipline is a creative process where self- love is at the center.
