DISCIPLINE MONTH: DAY 28: “The problem with patience and discipline is that it requires both of them to develop each of them.”― Thomas M. Sterner
Once we do anything enough to receive the benefits, we are apt to enjoy it and do it more frequently. This is the truth for everyone, addict or not.
If there were no benefits from my practice(s) of meditation, hiking, yoga, breathwork, gardening, cooking from scratch, writing, reading, etc., I would not continue them. I find that all of my work to eat fresh, healthy foods, prepared in ways that require great mindfulness and time, are so delicious that I do not enjoy foods prepared in any other way.
I eat at only a few restaurants, because they prepare food the way I do, and I know it. It is in the taste. It is in the love and attention that goes into the food. I can feel it. I don’t like fast food or food that is not prepared with the same time and attention.
This goes for everything I consume. I want to always be mindful and aware of what it takes to receive the gifts of what it is I consume. I love growing my own food, because I feel so alive when I am in the cycle of growth and cutting it and washing it and preparing it. The whole thing provides beautiful nutrition to my spirit as well as my body. Every time I rid my garden of a pest or protect it from weather, I am loving myself with the outcome of my effort.
I feel the same way about my home, filling it with things that please me, but are also healthy, no toxic chemicals or products can come in. This takes devotion and time and attention to everything.
One of my very early teachers taught me that everything matters. Every breath is important, so what is in my home matters. This is a mindfulness that embraces all my experience. I use it in meditation, but also in life, every day, all the time. I want to be mindful of only allowing things into my little world that feed my spirit and my environment and planet. There are so many toxins in the world. I am seldom surprised by those who ingest toxic things having toxic personalities or ways of believing. It cannot be separated.
We are, after all, what we eat, what we breathe, how we live, how consumptive we are. And what we do and support is what we will manifest into our lives. I want it to be mindful and peaceful and to continue to feed the spirit of ALL the Universe.
Dolphin Hug 