LivHealthy

"Each of us must experience one of two pains - the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. Which pain will you choose?"

Jim Rohn
1930-2009, Author and Speaker

This quote really rings true for me.  For the last year, I've been on a magical inner journey.  I've discovered and delved into meditating, began writing down my dreams to gain insight, asked questions of the universe and received answers.  There were times when I was very disciplined, and I felt very connected, and like things were falling into place.  

It felt like I had mastered the art of being disciplined.  And if you think about it, discipline truly is an art, as it is something that comes from your inner being- it just is a part of who you are.  Much like how a painter expresses himself on a canvas or a sculpter through a clay creation, discpline is an expression of who you are.

Then there were many times where I chose to not bother with my meditation, or not make smart choices when I ate, or chose unkind words to express myself.  And those are the times that I experienced regret.  I regretted how I felt after the "slip", either physically because I didn't feel good, emotionally because I hurt someone or hurt myself.  And there were times where I would beat myself up for those choices.  

While I still have moments of the angry 5 year old- (or maybe 10 year old, because they have a bit more maturity to understand perspective) gosh- why did I do that?  If I didn't do that then I probably could have experienced this, this and this!  Mind you, you never really know what could have been (remember that movie the Butterfly Effect with Ashton Kucher.  He could time travel and tried to go back in time and change bad situations, only to have other tragedies occur, and none of the changes created the outcome he wanted, where he got the girl?).

Now I've gained the perspective of appreciating that whatever happened is simply what I needed to experience to get to the place where I am now.  I needed to make those bad choices to help me make better choices today.  And the people I had those experiences with needed to be there with me, so they could learn something from their own perspective...something to help them grow, or even something to help me grow.

So I choose to experience the pleasure of discipline and the beauty that comes from that :)