When Discipline Is No Longer Needed
We often think discipline is a key ingredient to high performance, consistency, getting things done, etc.
But if we look closely, we see that discipline is only needed when we have competing desires or priorities.
If we’re wholly committed to one particular desire, discipline becomes unnecessary because there is nothing else competing for our energy and attention.
The key, then, is to understand our truest desire. This could be a desire that guides large portions of our life such as a purpose or mission or it could be the truest desire that arises on a moment-to-moment basis.
If you’re a parent with a purpose that extends beyond (yet includes) parenthood, you’re truest desire in one moment could be working on an aspect of a mission that falls outside of parenthood, but the moment your child shows up while you’re in the midst of working on something, your desire could immediately shift to being the prime focus of your child’s attention.
If you’re clear in each moment, there’s no competing desire.
You simply move in accordance with the true desire that wants to come through you. And you show up un-conflicted, ready to give all of your energy and attention to whatever is calling for it in that moment.
I find it’s easier to align with our desires when we clear the things that pull us out of alignment…
Things like energetic leaks in the form of self-doubt and general disbelief in our own capacity to walk out a particular desire.
Binging our favorite show on Netflix becomes appealing when we don’t believe the effort we could be putting into our “main desire” will pay off. Netflix guarantees an immediate dopamine hit that we’re not certain our “main desire” will lead to.
If you’re leaking energy through a lack of belief in yourself or what your pursuing, the inner work is to shift your doubt and disbelief into faith and possibility.
When you naturally align with your desire, energy leaks in the form of self-doubt and general disbelief fall away and distractions become much less appealing.
In other words, you no longer have the competing desires that discipline has traditionally been used to keep at bay.
On a higher turn of the spiral, realizing your own inner fulfillment, irrespective of anything you do externally, will align you with an infinite intelligence that begins to move through you on a moment-to-moment basis where personal desire and doubt no longer impede its flow.
This is the point at which our highest (and purest) desire naturally flows. No discipline is required and each moment spontaneously unfolds in accordance with this natural intelligence.
But before we reach this state, it takes continually questioning what our deeper desires are to learn to consistently align with them.
I recently heard this fitting analogy regarding attuning to God, which is where I believe our deeper desires live…
Someone was asked: Do you know why someone like a bank teller can spot counterfeit money so quickly? It’s because they deal with the real stuff every day.
If we never pay attention to our deeper desires, we’ll continually fall for our counterfeit ones simply because we lack the sensitivity to know the difference.
To aligning with the desires that require no discipline!
Shanna
P.S In case you missed Season 2 of the Always Shine Brightly podcast, here’s a quick list for easy reference:
Episode 6: Profoundly Free w/ Ricardo Flores-Clar
Episode 5: From Burned Out to Self-Sustained w/ Anna Earth
Episode 4: Friendship, Fiddle Playing & Moving Through The Unexpected w/ Crystal Harris
Episode 3: From Homeless to Healer w/ Hemma Haridin
Episode 2: Let Your Passion Be Bigger Than Your Fears w/ Meagan Smith
Episode 1: Balancing Love & Wisdom w/ Jessicka Herman
Click any of the above links or search “Always Shine Brightly” in any podcast app.
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