The Pandemic of No Self-Discipline - Part 1

We live in a world where everything is trying to grab our attention constantly. The dopamine tap is just a social feed away. We've frittered our lives away staring at a dark rectangle held in the palm of our hands. When we go to do something simple like read a book or we aspire to learn something in greater detail - we find we have no motivation and no ability to apply ourselves.

It is almost like we need to relearn how to breathe in order to be able to do anything valuable again. You may remember times when you enjoyed doing the odd load of dishes or reading or going for a hike - but now you're bound to your devices - indoors - more alone than ever and no power over the mind or over our own focus to do anything of great effect, feeling useless and yet going along with the flow of a 'safe social culture' leading us into dependence and oblivion.

It could be said this state of no ability to focus or control focus achieved within the collective is deliberate. I can list many motivations off the top of my head as to why this could be conducive to a permissive society that just sits down and takes whatever is handed to it. I choose not to engage in a political discussion in this article so I will let your own imagination ponder there.

Self-discipline - what is it and what can it give us power to do if we were just able to harness it

Let me define - Self discipline - The ability to do what you want when you want to do it and to apply yourself if/when necessary for longer periods of time in dedication in order to achieve that thing or to attain a higher level of quality of that thing.

It could also be defined as the ability to willfully face smaller amounts of pain now in order to avoid greater pain later.
Let's boil this down to the bottom - self honesty is required for you to be able to know when you are putting things off and when you are not. Self honesty is key in this path to healing to allow yourself to do more with yourself than to just spend days on end staring blindly at a screen.

Procrastination is the enemy but can also be turned into an ally in this battle for our own focus. More on that another time...

Did you know you can discipline your dopamine cycle to enjoy doing menial tasks? That instead of drudging through the day, hoping for the end of the day so you can get back on your device and chat to the world and fill your head with all that goo gah - you can train the neurology within you so you can enjoy exactly what it is you are doing in the moment you are doing it?

You might think - well - if that were possible and we were living in a society that truly benefited people than this skill would be embraced and taught in schools as a matter of fundamental necessity.

Well, once again - I'm pretty sure it suits the devices of the power hungry to keep you slaving to your device and hating every last minute of the rest of your existence... only to find a drop of satisfaction when someone shares with you a new cat meme or a bitch about a friend becomes public. So to get out of this rat trap you'll need to become aware of your neurology and what it is doing at any given moment. This is the chemicals in the brain that control what you want, if you enjoy something, why you want it - this is also closely related to the hormones - the neurochemistry and the hormones are related to what the rest of the body is doing. Imbalances anywhere in the body end up affecting the mind - this is a delicate balance.

So it is clear before we can even start theorizing about methods of self-disciplin what really is necessary to create a firm and stable, reliable foundation?

Points to ponder in building The Foundation:

1. The Body

2. The mind

3. Your environment

4. Your communities - social circles

5. Trauma to be aware of

6. Belief in something meaningful that chugs you along

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The Body, the Mind and the Environment the Body and Mind is In

The body is a wonderful tool. It is important when you set out to do anything to be aware of the body's abilities and limitations and be realistic (with a healthy dash of mad blind ambition, lol).

It took you a lifetime of conditioning to get to where you are today. The body is a big set of conditions - algorithms that have been presupposed on your existence that you live out in your day to day. These algorithms have been stored in the body as the body itself through muscle memory amongst other things.

If you want to train yourself to do anything you have to realise that the body needs training. Slow incremental changes got you to where you are today - so slow incremental changes with persistence and determination will change those habits into ones you want to be there.

According to one theory some Joe Blow mentioned once in my life - it takes 21 days to train a new habit for the body and 28 days to train a new habit for the mind. I am not sure of the veracity of this information but it has been a good indication for myself that a steady amount of persistence is required to shift habits and focus.

The body is an animal. Animals require training - you know how hard it was to train your dog out of begging when you allowed it to beg for the first three years? Well, that's you and your body - you have to treat your body as an animal that needs training and in this you have to be patient - like you were with the dog - but also persistent and relentless. Being cruel doesn't really achieve anything as your body will retaliate by generating suppressions and yet being overly lenient doesn't achieve anything either - be direct, firm and yet kind.

The connection of the body to the mind is a 'no brainer' (mind the pun, haha). The mind and the body are one in many ways and most often more so than many think. We think with our gut, our heart and other organs - there are neurological responses stored in these organs which are accessed in conjunction with the synapses in the brain. It goes without saying that taking care of the body is to take care of the mind.
This brings us to the foundation of mental stability (what I call it anyway) - That is:
Having a roof over your head that you feel secure in that you can return to at any moment as sanctuary with no undue pressures. If you don't have this - do all in your power to get it. Maintaining independence in this is the first step. Get away from abusive situations - get a job and pay for something more luxurious if that is what you need for a clear mind - but get a space that you can call yours, that is safe, that you can do what you want in and is not in threat of being taken away from you.

In many countries, I realise this is a luxury so consider to put this on the list for long-term priority to build toward. Be aware of this handicap if you do not have this pre-requisite and give yourself a bit more grace in trying to achieve your goals. Also be aware of how to offset this secure space in other places in your life - for example, I lived on the street for many years, I found that one thing that plagued me in street living was the inability to get any privacy and be alone in a city. While not being a true answer to my qualms there were numerous ways I found 'my space' even living publicly as a street person:

• Find a park that you walk in regularly with normal people, good nature that you can feel at peace in (ok, peace part of 'safe space' has a 'tick' next to it now.
• Find a place where you can sit alone for periods of time and not be disturbed or fear of being disturbed (for me on the street, this was sometimes a disabled toilet, which was available everywhere and was seldom in use, I would go into this private room, lock the door and put the toilet seat down and sit - only once in a busy period in a shopping centre did I end up annoying someone with this habit).
• Find a part of yourself that you can organize, that no one else will touch - 'your room' in a metaphorical sense (for me this was my backpack, I would take all my things out and methodically go through what I needed and didn't and knew exactly what I carried around with me, keeping it in order, making alterations to the backpack with a needle and thread as needed which made me feel very independent).

So we have three things - ok maybe four if you include a sense of independence - that are particularly important to maintain if you cannot have a space to call your own to feel secure in -

• Peace of mind - a place of no obligation or expectation where you can relax
• Privacy - a place where you can be alone, not be watched or monitored and just be.
• A way to be in control over your environment - translating to independence

With parts of these satisfied while living on the street I could function somewhat but it was very, very difficult. It didn't get easier until I gave myself the space unconditionally - a place which I could call my own. There were many nights where I wandered the streets in search of a safe place to sleep. There were many places that were safe but also I was overly self-conscious and didn't want to be seen or be in a place where I might be bothered for anything by anyone. After wandering for hours into the night I would then lay down exhausted having exhausted the part of my mind that was self-conscious and I could get an hour or two rest before getting up and doing it all again. It wasn't until my youth running out and my feet and legs getting injuries did I start to consider alternatives to wandering and wandering and wandering. As a highly sensitive person in a highly vulnerable situation I felt I had nowhere to go and no one I could trust. I was not in a state of mind conducive to healing - constantly in defence.

I can see that at this point if someone had offered me a small apartment that was private with no strings attached - that would have made a drastic improvement on my ability to function within society and to then realign my mind to be able to gear it up for the possibility of functioning with society. Instead I was constantly on low with defences up extremely high - utterly alone.

With street music, later in my life and traveling the world - there was a way for me to open up and be vulnerable. I was forced to play in order to make money to eat but it also drew people to me and subsequently I was often offered or given a place to stay wherever I traveled.

I lived on and off the street from when I was 22 to 27 - getting a job here or there, then losing it and back on the street for months at a time. I moved around a lot in this period, I felt if I was homeless, why be stuck in one place or city? From about 27-34 I traveled the world as a street musician. Once I was overseas visa hopping for 18 months. I have done other smaller trips... one for 11 months overstaying in the UK, another for about 7 months through France and Ireland and another for 3 months. My travels were limited to the region from Turkey to Ireland - spending a great deal of time in the Balkans. I would return to a similar lifestyle in Australia, sometimes working or saving and leave back overseas on a one way ticket again.
The energy of youth slowly dwindled and adrenal fatigue kicked in often. I put myself on the edge all the time - constantly dependent in desperate cities on the money I made on the street in order to survive. I had faith I would always be fine. I was, but I hit bottom so many times it isn't worth recalling or counting.

It wasn't until later in my life that I realised how much of a disservice I did for my self trust - I was forcing myself with new trauma by living in such a way, only to be unlocked and needed to be self-forgiven later.

Hitting bottom again and again, my body refused to keep going. I needed to settle somewhere and make a stronger foundation. Being so lucky to have been born in such a rich country - and seeing how self-entitled it was for me to travel like I was through poor regions - it was a no brainer I take advantage of the opportunities I was given.

I still wish to travel in the future but I can never be dependent on the street for money for food again. I must always create a stable base for myself wherever I go - and have a stable and secure income with which to gift myself with that security.

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I know we seem a bit off topic for an article about self-discipline.. I digress - but without the foundation - there is little point in trying to engage in anything in a serious way. By setting the right foundation you set yourself up for success - if you put a lot of energy into something when you're living on quicksand it can feel like everything you do ends in failure and this can discourage you even more. Many people make the mistake of not setting up their foundation before they try to engage in a craft in a serious way. That the first step to being self-disciplined is to discipline yourself to make a stable foundation - to culture self-trust.

Another important part of taking care of the body is watching what you consume - watching your habits etc. This is closely related to the mind and the environment.

I had a lot of coffee addiction in my travel and this I thought was sustainable. The first thing I would do after waking up on some random beach or street is find a place to set up my little stove and make an insanely strong Turkish coffee. I still drink coffee now but have cut right back, having gone through periods of not drinking it and also having an existential crisis without it - being so neurologically dependent on it.

Be aware of your addictions... things that you do to cater to a neurological response. Sugar has been another big one for me. Creates big highs immediately only to be payed for with bigger lows later - eating a lot of it all the time was more sustainable when I was younger.. getting older the body has less resilience and neurological stores used up.

Being aware of your dopamine cycle is vastly important to beinge able to apply yourself to anything in a meaningful way.

Masturbation is another big one - it drains the body of resources to then demand that your top resources are then used to make more semen as a first priority over body and brain functioning. It also fucks with your neurology and creates massive highs and lows. In a hypersexualized society, over use of this one is a massive limitation to your ability to focus. Your ability to focus on anything for long periods of time in a meaningful way is diminished greatly with an overdependence on this to click you over. Find outward ways to click you over instead, exercise etc.

Alcohol another big one - that goes without saying. You can feel like superman when you are young and drink all the time - but getting older it is clear what it does to the mind and the body - creating cycles of limitation.

In my experience it is not good for the mind or for self-trust to just cut things off if you are not ready to do so. Work on systems of cutting down slowly over time and gift yourself the ability to stop it if you want at the end. You may choose to keep doing some of these things and this may be part of your balance but doing them in a more aware way of what it does to your body and how it affects your experience - finding equilibrium with it all.

The mind like the body needs training over time to learn new things and train yourself out of old habits.

Setting starting points/intentions for things that are clear and reminding yourself of them daily is important. You need to work through every aspect of your mind that disagrees with what you want. It is like every 28 days we live a version of every day of our life that we have ever lived in a cycle of 28 days. That to persist with something over a 28 day period is a microcosmic effort which affects the greater life and therefore embeds it in that cycle - literally becoming a part of your physical being.

Learn how to learn. Learn what learning is for you. Reinvent the wheel. Learn how learning works for your particular makeup and experience. You have to develop your own framework - each framework in every person is as unique as their life and experiences. Start from scratch. Make mistakes. Get back up when you fall.

Meditate in your daily life - this is just focusing on what you are doing when you are doing it. If you are washing the dishes, feel the water - learn to focus. Learn to train your focus to be where you are at in order to train it to be where you want it to be. Being in control of your own focus is a huge achievement. You decide where your attention goes. The path that you focus on is the path that lights up - energy flows where attention goes. Sitting on a park bench or walking - focus on your breath - breathe intentionally - feel the air enter and leave - breathe into your belly and diaphragm.

Start doing practices that involve the body and keep you in your body as opposed to staring at a device all day (effectively spending all day inside the mind and your thoughts). Sign up for yoga or pottery (I'm doing both at the moment, lol). Do it in a social setting if you can handle people and get involved with community. Double up physical activity with community activity if you're ready for it.

Eating well, or as well as you know is very important. Sleeping regularly is maybe more important than that. Finding good air to be in and drinking good quality water not full of chemicals is another really important thing.

I could really digress on these topics... but you already know... do your own research.

This article has really stretched out... I now realise how vast this subject is... I woke up at 1am and had an idea to write it. I milk cows at 4:30am... I've set the fire on, got a hot cup and eaten a banana. It's 3:13 and I'll need to consider publishing now if I want to have it up by the time I have to go.

So I'm gonna make this in parts. This is part one. I will continue next part on the foundation to self-discipline - the importance of community and being with people - being aware of trauma and how it affects you presently and affects you into the future - and finding something meaningful to live for (spirituality). Some day, we may even get to addressing self-discipline and methods of self-discipline once the foundation is set.

Till next time,

Monty