Love and Discipline
"I love fantasy; I love imagination - that's the inner child in me."-- Hannah John-Kamen
Aiming at 1% improvement weekly in loving yourself. Specifically, your "child" self. There two major ways love is shown:
Affection/reward
Correction/Discipline
The "Child" self is the source of your creativity, energy, "aliveness." Finding activities that align with the child that also improve standing in the "adult" world is one of the greatest gifts you can offer. "to bring into existence, in adult terms, your childhood dreams" was Harlan's definition of success, and it’s a fine one.
Someone looked at this concept yesterday, and observed that people don't get paid to read. There are TONS of researchers, librarians, authors, and teachers who would disagree with that. But what did they do? They read, yes, but also found a way to communicate what they knew to others, so that it creates VALUE for another human being, which can then translate into an exchange of THEIR money for YOUR time and energy.
That question: how do you translate something you love to do into something that is, in essence, your hunting and gathering? The answer will probably involve discipline. Only the very most fortunate human beings on the planet are born into a situation where their natural desires automatically translate to money. That's vanishingly rare. Most of us have to learn ADULT skills that take that natural desire and turn it into something that can be taken to the market.
The CHILD part of you might well hate this. Consider it prostitution, an abuse of the heart. This is why it can be so valuable to separate the "Child" and "Adult" selves, and from here, provide both love and discipline. Kid's gotta do their homework. Has to eat their peas, has to learn to play nicely with others, has to learn the mating game. But it is reasonable to divide tasks into "adult" and "child" arenas, and change hats when necessary.
The "adult's" job is to build a playground garden, with high walls, and thornless roses. To keep the lions out, and be sure that any who come to play play safely and fairly.
It is the child's job to play. "Homework" and such are spinning off the child energy into building the adult world…in a sense. You are learning. If you'd been born into a traditional culture you would slowly be drawn into the adult web, learning to hunt and gather or weave and care for younger brothers and sisters. To cook and patch and fight and build. Slowly. Until one day you either choose a mate, or one is chosen for you. Those rituals are also integrated into traditional cultures, or they die in a generation.
YOU have to find ways to take the natural curiosity and aliveness, the natural creativity and urge to move and explore, to learn and nurture or protect, and turn them into the skills that provide protection to the next generation. That is the adult road, and most of any culture's lessons are designed to help you progress along this path.
What do YOU need to do to provide a safe place for your "child"? More love? More discipline? It will be some combination of these things.
And the best way to learn this is to use the tools of the "Ancient Child"--to make meditative contact with BOTH the child self and the "Elder" self. In a very real way, your "Adult" self only has to follow their direction: to respect BOTH the dreams of childhood and the values you will clarify on your deathbed, absent ego or fear.
WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT? WHAT REALLY MAKES YOU HAPPY? When what makes you happy ALSO increases your safety, your "child" will be very, very happy with you. And all the blocked energy will be released. The heart fills, the ego expands, and you are off on the next adventure.
This is incredibly powerful stuff. So…
Start with the breathing. Every hour on the hour, 60 seconds of deep, slow, diaphragmatic breathing.
10-20 minutes a day you will MOVE while chanting affirmations, visualizing mentors and flushing yourself with gratitude and confidence. The MAGIC formula, brought to life.
Focus on 1% weekly increase in internal integration and amplitude of LOVE and SAFETY.
If you will do this today, I'll have another piece for you tomorrow. If you won't, or can't, this will all stay up in your head, and do you about as much good as an uneaten salad.
Namaste
Steve
