We know that you are tough Dear One. We know that you are strong, and clever, and resourceful.  We know that you are extremely capable of coping with, adapting to, learning to live with, and working around obstacles, difficulties, and pain.

But the truth is that we don’t want you to be.

What we want Dear One, is that when you feel that splinter go in, when you feel that first little prick of pain, when that alarm sounds and you experience those first pangs of concern, distress, discomfort, hurting, or dis-ease, that you give your coping skills a rest for a change.

We don’t want to see you reach for your usual box of Band-Aids and show us, and the rest of the world, just how well you can adapt to it, cope with it, rationalize it, and keep on going.  What we want Dear One, is to see you reach for the tweezers instead.

We don’t want you getting better, and becoming more practiced, at learning to live with the little pricks in your life.  We want you getting better at removing them, while they are still small, before they have a chance to take root, evolve, spread, and grow and into bigger ones.

Discipline is a mindset Dear One, an attitude, an approach, a guide, a commitment.
It is not a contract, a commandment, an order, a doctrine, or a law that must be followed.

Discipline is flexible, malleable, adaptable,and strong.
It is not hard, rigid, tough, and unforgiving.

Discipline is the boat on water Dear One, not the rope tethering you to the dock.
It is the compass pointing your way, not the points plotted out on a map
It is the sail, and not the anchor.

Practicing discipline should strengthen you, empower you, guide you, help you to feel stronger, freer, more connected and in-synch with the world around you. Not frustrate you, weaken you, and leave you feeling depleted and restricted.

If what you are practicing is not not serving you in all of these positive ways Dear One, there is a very good chance that what you are practicing is not discipline at all, but that you are just being hard on yourself, and that is not the same thing.

Responsibility begins and end with you Dear One.

• You are responsible for the company that you keep
• You are responsible for the work that you do
• You are responsible for the choices that you make
• You are responsible for the actions that you take, and don’t take
• You are responsible for your attitude, opinions, beliefs and responses
• You are responsible for deciding what is and what is not acceptable to you
• You are responsible for when you show up, how long  you stay, and when you leave

Just something to keep in mind the next time you find yourself looking around for the responsible party.

Create from an angry, frustrated, stressed out, fearful place Dear One, and no matter how hard you work, how hard you try, how good your intentions are, the very best that you are ever going to be able to do is create more of the same.

You can’t make an apple pie with peaches.

Make sense?

You feel the way that you feel Dear One, because you think the way that you think, you act the way that you act, you behave the way that you behave, you choose the way that you choose, you speak the way that you speak, and you believe the way that you believe.

Can you see that?

We are not saying that you are to blame for the way that you are feeling, but we are saying that you are responsible for it.

And the beauty of believing us, the beauty of accepting that what we are telling you is true is that once you do, once you accept that responsibility, you will never again have to feel victimized by your emotions because you will know that you have the ability to change them, or to react differently to them, anytime you would like.

You don’t need to change your reality to begin to turn things around Dear One — just your mind.

You can choose to focus your attention on what’s wrong Dear One, on that which is making you feel badly if you want to, but you should know, that you absolutely don’t have to.

It really is ok for you to just let it go.

Shine, right where you are Dear One.