I wanted to take this moment to feature a fabulous tool for connecting with your inner self and the universe - the internet!

 Sure, Indra’s Web and the World Wide Web share a lot in common, but I’m finding that the internet plays well with the idea that “ask and you shall receive” aspect of interconnectedness with the universe. 

There’s a theory for tarot reading that I ascribe to - that the answer lies within the asker.  But because we do not listen to ourselves, we need some outside medium to tell us what we already know, as if nothing is true unless confirmed by outside sources (oh, to be a society that believed in itself.) So, the tarot is a TOOL that one uses to extract the answers from within yourself.  It’s like calling your answering machine and finding a message left by you saying, “Yes, you should take that job.”  The answering machine didn’t have the answer - you did. 

The internet can work this way as well.  You find what you need, when you need it, even though the answer is really coming from within you.

Take today.  I’ve recently rebegun working out.  Three days isn’t a full on habit, but only two points are required for a line and three for a trend. 

I think, however, my discipline for this recent return to activity is fueled by my stronger discipline with myself at work and reading up on news.  Not by a huge amount, but definitely more focused than before.  And the discipline that I used to get through my first ever Master Cleanse.  It was a level of discipline that I’d not shown in a long time (aided by some very helpful friends and family.)

Discipline is one of those things that is my nemesis.  I have great capability for discipline….when I am disciplined and interested.  I used to have great fortitude for staying the course.  I accomplished a great many things when younger, up to and including writing a 200 page book (it’s trash), cultivating an artistic streak in art and music, working long hours on projects. 

 Now, I have an “Oh fuck it” sort of attitude a lot of the time if I’m not getting gratification from the process I’m enduring.  There are some things that I realize aren’t for me, or that I’m not ready for yet.  And then…there are a great number of things I dearly love the idea of achieving, but find myself TDL about it (Too Damn Lazy).  That working on such and such thing is not as immediately gratifying as hugging my spouse, or checking my email, or surfing Tribe.net.  My ability to stay disciplined has, perhaps, inversely decreased with the increase of things I want to do or accomplish.

Perhaps, as a result, of realizing that a lot of promises about certain accomplishments weren’t true.  Like, getting a college degree was the only way to have a good job.  Like, getting straight A’s prepares you for college.  Like communicating with your father regularly will cause him to be more a part of your life. 

So, one of the blogs I ready regularly is Penelope’s Brazen Careerist.  Today, she pops up with this blog article about how to lose weight in 2 weeks by changing work habits.

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2007/08/29/how-to-lose-ten-pounds-in-two-weeks/

Being the woman of the millenium I am, I read it for every morsel of possible hint towards avoiding bingo-wings . 

It brings up the point that discipline in one area may indeed aid one in applying discipline in others.  And you have to like the discipline, I think.  It can’t be, “I can’t spend any money because I’m poor” because that is perceived as suffering, and frankly, one is more likely to be less disciplined in other areas because  of the perceived suffering (well, at least it does for me.)

At the end of the post, Penelope says:

“So I always want more self-discipline in my life.  And I absolutely found that when I became more disciplined about how I deal with my sleep and eating, I became more disciplined about working out. For the last year I have had clear goals for regular episodes of running, weights and yoga. But I have generally failed at achieving these goals on a regular basis. Something always interferes.”

That interfering “something” is ME.  In fact, her whole paragraph describes how I have been for a while.  She also says:

There is great research about how if you add self-discipline to your life in one area, self-discipline seeps into other areas of your life as well. This is important because positive psychologists are always saying that self-discipline is a key factor to making ourselves happier.

Those links directly are:

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2007/05/25/coachology-train-yourself-to-be-happier/

http://www.senia.com/2007/02/01/create-new-habits-self-regulation/

And in this way, the great circle is completed.  I was in need of finding some discipline to achieve some of my goals.  I applied a little, and found some good results, and then I find through the internet that there is proof that adding a little discipline in one area will trickle down to other areas that are important to me.  I reaffirmed my own internal voice.

The answer was in me, all along.  All I had to do was google.