Self-control

Discipline: control gained by enforcing obedience or order; orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior; self-control.

I grew up in a time where discipline was enforced with severe punishment. Reflecting back on this means of "control" I can safely say it made me afraid of myself. It taught me to doubt my abilities and had me second guessing everything I did. My love for life was slowly beaten out of me.

The story about the sun and wind is one of my favorites. They made a bet that they would each be able to remove the coat of a man walking down the street. The wind blew furiously, but the man tightened his grip on his coat and help on to it with all he had. When it was the sun's turn, it beamed gently down on the man who eventually had to remove his coat because the heat was too much.  

It is impossible to change behaviour with force. Change has to happen because it is welcomed. Discipline has to willingly come from within one's self, not from the force of others. 

When we get busy trying to control others using "discipline" (ego's mind games), we lose sight of our most most valuable assets: our mind, heart, soul, body, six senses, and character. To have discipline means that you are able to control each of these on your own without accepting critiques from others. 

Self-control is the only thing that we need to achieve in our lifetime. It requires gentle discipline for you to genuinely love yourself in order to have the peace that is desired by all imperfect humans. This means that you live each day with your purpose and your passion. This means that you trust yourself over the well-meaning support from others. There is no one alive who will be able to give you what you can give to yourself freely every moment of everyday. <3