The Bridge – Discipline – Is “discipline” cruel? Is it one of your fears? Or is an orderly life what you long for but you’ve been told, because of your personality it’s completely out of reach? Do you have dreams of endless punishments at some infernal school?

Discipline only means conforming to a plan – our map, remember? Get out your Dream Journal and study your plan, your list of wants and fears. Are you a harsh taskmaster to yourself? Why?

Plans can be flexible – maps less so – but they are subject to change. By us. Because we’re in control.

Nothing is achieved without discipline, which only means conforming your behavior to a previously conceived pattern but what does it mean to you? Your dreams will tell you.

You Are Your Best Friend and Best Parent – No plan “works” in your life until you learn to practice delayed gratification and stick-to-itiveness. But first you need to feel your way through other patterns – bubbling up from the collective unconscious – some of which so hellish so you have to struggle with the source of those memories. You will need to disown them to give birth to your true self, whom you can lovingly mother. Harness your dream power to get yourself over the finish line.

Challenge – do you treat others differently from the way you treat yourself? More or less generously? Why? We need to adapt our discipline constantly to enhance our thriving. But who’s doing the adapting – the Cruel Taskmaster, the Disgusted Lover or the Adoring, Generous Parent or the Permissive Saint? You contain all these (and they live in your dreams) , but who are you going to listen to? Who will you feed? Who has more power? Your choice controls your future. Consult appealing patterns that have worked for others and blend to taste. Develop a loving faith, and a sophisticated taste you can trust to guide you.

Danger – Uh oh! You’ve fatally confused “discipline” with “punishment” and now are too debilitated to escape. Who said growth has to hurt?

Opportunity – From our dreams we must summon a rescuer. Naturally that rescuer is OUR OWN TRUE SELF. In dreams sometimes it’s a hero, a fictional or historic figure or a spirit animal. Do you have a hero myth? Jack and the Beanstalk? Frozen? Joan of Arc? Read especially potent folk tales right before bed. Fall asleep imagining strengthened muscles – physical, spiritual, emotional – growing inside you. You are Jack AND the beanstalk! No giant can stand against you. Even the laziest, cruelest corner of the ego collapses to reveal itself as a Tiny Child yearning for effective mothering. We get to be the loving mother to ourselves.

Models & Mentors – “Through self-discipline comes freedom” – Aristotle

“Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you going” – John C. Maxwell

“All success begins with self-discipline. It starts with you.” – Dwayne Johnson

‘Day by day – what you choose, what you think, what you do, is who you become” – Heraclitus

Mantra – “I grow”

Meditation –

#Haiku: The Bridge

Stuck:
I’m here and you’re there.
I’ll meet you
Across an
Ocean’s loneliness.