October 12

DISCIPLINE MONTH: DAY 12: “When you discipline a child, you prepare them for a responsible and accountable adulthood.” ― Gift Gugu Mona

Everyone needs a sense of discipline. We don’t like it, because we have such strong egos and wills. But it is an essential part of being a responsible and productive citizen of the world we inhabit.

When we can discipline ourselves, we have reached maturity. When I can say “NO” to the things I know are not in my highest interest and for the good of all, I am acting like a responsible grown up. This is not my first thought. Thank God, I have learned to NOT listen to my thoughts and to listen, instead, to that voice located in my heart.

Seldom does that voice make noise. The noisy one is the Screaming Purple Monkeys, who make a great deal of chatter and fuss.

The body-sense of what is right is quiet and unobtrusive. It is like my arm or my leg. I just know them, they are part of me. That is what knowing feels like. It is just there. People ask me all the time how I know something. This is the best I can tell them. It is just there.

I don’t even have to ask. It is like I have a stomach, but I cannot see it. It is inside my body. I may have a belly, but it is not my stomach. That is hidden in my body. So is my knowing. It doesn’t make noise, I seldom ask it for much, but it sends me a body-message that I somehow understand without words. That, alone, is the key to why it is true and valid.

No words. When my head is screaming and full of words, the quiet of the knowing is so attractive and safe. I have learned to trust and rely on it. That took many years of practice. I always used to doubt its validity, because I couldn’t see it.

Today there is no argument you can give me that will make me deny what I know. In fact, I am often sad for those who don’t know how to access and trust that in themselves.

But we have to work for this gift. It is the sense that I have when I know I have just done something out of principle with who I strive to be around here. It is the thing that makes Step 10 such a powerful and wonderful tool for me. I know instantly when something isn’t right.

And, try as I might to make it YOUR issue, it will always be mine. So, I listen to my knowing and I clean up any messes I have made that day. As soon as I can.

Sometimes I must sit with my knowing for a few minutes till I can see what I need to clean up. That is because the monkeys start screaming immediately about how it was you and them and this and that at fault. They HATE it that there is a knowing that they cannot drive. What a gift this all is! I like it when I can be responsible. It truly feeds my spirit.