We’re entering Week 4 of our Courageous Self-Discipline Challenge … and whether or not you’ve had some success, this week we’re going to play with the idea of joy in discipline.
Self-discipline can be seen as a harsh, serious thing … but can it instead be seen as joyful? Let’s explore!
So you sit down to do an important task. You try to commit yourself to it, reminding yourself of why it’s important. Maybe you close everything else so that you won’t be tempted to run to distractions.
You sit here … and it feels heavy. Strict. Tough. Overwhelming. Maybe scary.
That’s because we are resisting the task, not wanting to move into its uncertainty, not liking this kind of restriction. We are looking at it as a burden, a chore, a constriction. No wonder our minds want to avoid it!
What if, instead, we found something to be grateful for? We found a little deliciousness to savor? We found joy in the doing, in the progress, in the moment?
Some ideas for this practice, which is entirely yours:
- See this as something you are choosing. This isn’t a “have to” or a “forced to” but something you want to do. That is a big shift.
- Take a moment to soak in the moment. Sit there for a few seconds and just take in your surroundings, the light, the sound, life all around you, the air, your body, the fact that you’re alive. Find some gratitude and joy in savoring this unique, fleeting moment.
- Start doing the task, and feel the joy in the doing. Are you moving? Thinking? Being? Are you expressing yourself? Committing an act of love? Is there anything you can find joyful about that? Can you find joy in caring for your craft? In taking care of others or yourself?
- Feel the joy in progress & accomplishment. As you make progress, feel the joy in moving this important task forward. In getting something important done. As you finish (even if it’s finishing a small chunk of a project), feel the joy in accomplishing something good. Let yourself pat yourself on the back, and feel a victory, a celebration, a goodness in what you’ve done! It’s stopping to enjoy the view from the top of the mountain you just climbed. Or maybe from the side of the mountain after climbing a segment of it.
- Find something delicious to savor. Each moment, each action, each task, each milestone has something wonderful that you can appreciate and savor. It’s like delighting in a cherry or a bite of an orange … can you take some time to savor it, to fully appreciate it?
These are just a few ideas — can you find other ways to be joyful?