Category: Personal Breakthrough

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Personal Breakthrough

What Discipline Really Means?

You probably stumbled upon the word discipline since you were so little and got scared of it from the very beginning of your life, especially because we would mostly hear it when we got into trouble or we were prevented from not following it. And, regarding the title of this article, “What Discipline Really Means,” and addressing the redundant use of the word ‘really’, I can tell it is because in my experience made me relate the word discipline with an unpleasant emotion about a concept of being under arbitrary control, earned that is something you would do against your will and sorts, enough reasons to keep myself away from it as long as I could. Even I was practicing it in many ways distinctively from the former concept unknowingly, walking in life carrying a concept I was completely and ‘really’ misled about.

After studying it, traveling around, and paying special attention during observation of people and vast nature, I now define the word discipline as written in my books, as “a habit you cultivate consciously.” – Jor. A concise definition, isn’t it? I tried to explain it as easiest as I could. And as minimal as it brings to existence flourishing ways of personal growth opportunities and great things if, of course, the discipline it has the direction of love, and this is maybe the most important thing when deciding which discipline you choose to cultivate in your life.

I am happily mentioning some definitions by legendary knowledgeable and interesting minds that are or were part of the living, and we the readers and spectators are lucky their ideas resonated enough so we can print them and read them here, starting from the artists to the philosophers:

The meaning of discipline to David Bowie (in the late 70’s)

“Discipline doesn’t mean you wake in the morning and have breakfast at 8 o’clock in the morning and leave the house at half past 8. Discipline is, if you conceived some thing, then you decided wether or not it’s worth following through , and if it’s worth following through then you follow it through its logical conclusion and do it with the best of your ability, that’s a discipline. Wether there are areas in it that are not to ones liking, you have to go back the way through it and do it, and that’s what I do”

David Bowie

I especially like the part about “then you do it with the best of your ability,” it doesn’t only say much about what discipline means but it particularly says a lot about what discipline takes, and how amazing and mesmerizing things are achieved by it, such as in nature and arts, but how he saw work in general. This may be the way discipline should be followed.

Camus’ quote about discipline

In that daily effort in which intelligence and passion mingle and delight each other, the absurd man discovers a discipline that will make up the greatest of his strengths. The required diligence, doggedness and lucidity thus resemble the conqueror’s attitude. To create is likewise to give a shape to one’s fate.

Alber Camus

Here Albert Camus’ quote does not refer directly to the term discipline, but rather ‘a discipline’ and what it implies. It lets us know how discipline and its required determination bring an intended accomplishment.

Martin Luther King Jr. referring to the importance of discipline

“In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

There’s a great variety of registered times when Martin Luther King Jr. took time to speak about the intrinsic requirement to act following discipline to legitimize the power of the people.

Discipline according to Epictetus

“No greater thing is created suddenly… If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”

Epictetus

I especially like the way he talks about affordability and sustainable living in the respectful interaction with the environment and nature, something not considered in the XX or XI century industrial realities, producers and consumers, a reality in our habits we need to asses daily.

Discipline according to Seneca

“Our life should observe a happy medium between the ways of a sage and the ways of the world at large; all men should admire it, but they should understand it also.”
“The heart is great which shows moderation amid prosperity.”

Seneca

Again, and previously from Epictetus’ times, self-restraint as a form of discipline, focused on community and common good.

Plato about discipline

“Discipline is a kind of order. A master of pleasures and desires. And the person is described being in someway a master of himself”

Plato (The Republic)

Around 2500 years separate us from Plato, and fairly his ideas survived its era. Plato mentioned the concept of assessing and personal growth in many ways, and discipline is about you taking control of yourself, not being ruled instead.

Conclusion

Discipline is a must, and crucially deserves great attention and practice, once you discover its benefits in your own life you will only wish you started before you did, so start the change by cultivation, today, just after this reading is a good and the best of times. Enjoy!

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Personal Breakthrough

Instant Motivation With Motivational Videos

Instant Motivation With Motivational Videos of movie scenes. Collection of videos that instantly motivate me to go and make things happen.

Activate the.great achiever in you with this motivational videos, get inspired go for it, and finally get all you wanted.

Any Given Sunday – Al Pacino Motivational Speech

I don’t play American football and probably you either, but you can apply this way of seeing your goals and the need to achieve them, in any personal or business project that you might have. Al Pacino’s character tries to inspire and motivate the players with a dramatic motivational speech, where it draws the fact that the one the want to achieve the goal the most is the one that is going to be the one that is going to succeed on achieving it.

Rocky – Silverster Stalone’s Inspirational Speech

I probably didn’t watch and maybe you are not a big fun of Rocky movies, for many reasons. But, the speech that Rocky, played by Silvester Stalone, gives in this scene can be very moving and make you realize that change and your destiny are in your hands.

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Meditation Personal Breakthrough

Meditation – Techniques, Benefits, and More

Meditation Practice

The practice of meditation can bring many life-changing benefits to you. And incorporate the awareness of your full potential in your experience of life. How profound the effects of these benefits are going to affect your daily life depends on the intensity and/or regularity of the meditation practice.

Benefits of Meditation – Scientific Findings

It has been scientifically proven that the practice of meditation can provide practitioners with the following benefits:

  • Anxiety reduction by the constant repetition of mantras
  • Ease depression and anxiety. According to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine
  • Break down negative personal habits and create new ones. This by the formation of new synapsis of existing neurons, and the creation of new neurons. According to a study by researchers in the US.
  • Prevent future relapses for people with substance consumption disorders. According to a study published by Substance Abuse Rehabilitation.

Meditation Techniques and Types

All meditation techniques differentiate one from the other on what their aims and approaches are.
Remember that you don’t have to follow a strict approach or align your and with the traditional ones. You can feel free to adapt any of the techniques according to what feels more natural and beneficial to you.

In the following list, I mention and describe some meditation techniques with high adoption across the world. These meditation techniques are easy to learn for you to start to practice, or to experience and decide to try another one:

Breath Awareness Meditation

Goals and Benefits: Reduce stress levels in your body, reduce the possibility of burnout for caregivers, regulate better your body’s reaction to fatigue and stress, better manage struggling situations like pain, helping to overcome depression — among others.

Approach: Mindful breathing by focusing only on your breathing performance and ignoring other thoughts that can distract your disconnection from ‘reality.’

Zen Meditation

Goals and Benefits: Improve focus, increase creativity, improve memory, restore energy, acceptance and empathy building, ability to prioritize and plan, better manage struggling situations like pain, helping to overcome depression, and to foster a positive work attitude — among others.

Approach: Focusing on your breathing performance, and mindfully observing your thoughts — all without judgment.

Transcendental Meditation

Goals and Benefits: Boost mindfulness and rise above the person’s current state of being.

Approach: Breath slowly while repeating selected powerful mantras, chosen by the teacher or by the practitioner. Sometimes you can repeat a word or even a sound, to maintain concentration on the practice.

Body Scan Meditation

Goals and Benefits: Feeling of calmness, release body tension, and sometimes pain.

Approach: Mentally scan your body for areas of tension to be released.

Kundalini Yoga

Goals and Benefits: The practice of Kundalini Yoga energizes your brain, give you the feeling of bliss, give you the feeling of awareness of a eternal cosmic power, and you become a more conscious person.

Approach: It blends yoga movements with deep breathing and repetition or chanting of powerful mantras. These mantras can be given by the teacher or can be personal ones, as well.

Mindfulness Meditation

Goals and Benefits: The practice of Mindfulness Meditation can improve your power of focus, your memory capabilities, a better managing of your thoughts and emotions, a better managing of reactions and to lessen impulsive behaviors.

Approach: Awareness of your present moment and your surroundings without any judgmental thoughts.

How to do meditation: FAQ about meditation

How often and for how long to do meditation?

It depends on how badly you need to disconnect from the world. To determine the frequency of meditation practice and how long it is needed to last each time depend directly on how much your mind feels it needs it.
Take into account that the more you practice meditation the better you will know what is best for you and the more natural its practice becomes for your body and mind.
Recommendation about how often: Once or twice a day. There was some moment in my life when I had to meditate 5 times a day (while working in offices).
Recommendation about how long each time: about the time you start to feel you are connecting enough with your unconscious and connecting more naturally with the rest of the universe or other high energy concepts you choose to connect with. It can go from 5 minutes(or less) to as long as you feel comfortable and have the time to practice it.

You will feel and recognize which technique and which ways are working better for you, as well as the time and intensity.

The changes in your mind processes and the feeling of a better connection with yourself, the others and what you want in life will be obvious enough for you to notice, and the situations that caused you anxiety before are going to have less power over your feelings and attention.

What do I have to see or feel to know I’m doing meditation right?

There is no need to carry expectations to the meditation practice. The experience you will have can be very unique, different from the others’, also different from time to time you practice it.
This diversity of experiences is one of the fascinating characteristics of the meditation practice.

Do I have to sit to do meditation?

You don’t have to follow strictly any position. There are no strict rules for it. For example, practicing meditation with kundalini yoga or another kind of yoga you don’t need to sit. You can lie on your back or put yourself in any position, as long as you feel comfortable enough, so your mind doesn’t distract from trying to be in the ‘right’ position.

How do I know if I am doing meditation right?

When the true goal is to connect with higher levels of energy, there’s is no space for the classification of right or wrong. Judgemental views are not compatible with the meditation practice when your goal is to achieve spiritual growth.
As long as you feel meditation provides you with positive effects in your daily life, and you feel you are practicing meditation enough and with an intensity that makes you feel good; everything is amazing, you can be grateful, enjoy it all.