why have discipline?

                               
             (a bit of discipline gives us time to do what we love)

why have any discipline?

For myself, I go through periods of being disciplined. Then not. Followed by disliking the results of not being disciplined, so rapidly returning to being disciplined. For myself, why do I keep returning to discipline?

having some disciplines gives us freedom

I truly believe that having some disciplines in our life, sets us free, on lots of levels. By having things that we 'have' to do means quite simply, that we get things done. I know that if I don't make my bed in the morning, for example, then mysteriously, my whole day just gets messier. It's become a famous thing, to make our bed in the morning, first thing. So strange. I thought that we all made our bed every day. But apparently not. Making our bed, properly, is supposed to set us up for getting our tasks done each day. And, yes, this does work. Sometimes I just get up and get going, with a walk, or meditation, then come back and do it. Sometimes I actually just forget. But, almost every day I like to make my bed. And when I don't, there is truly something upsetting me. It's what gives the signal about me. I wonder if it's the same for others?

a bit of discipline reduces choice fatigue

Now this is truly interesting. It seems that we have a limit on the amount of good choices that we make all day. Which is why our choices can get worse over the day. A good example here is with dieting. If we haven't got a (rough) food plan, as the day goes on and we are choosing what and when we eat, we weirdly start making bad choices. I can certainly attest to that! Then we start to believe that we have self-sabotaged in this area. Maybe we have. But maybe, just maybe, we have used up our good choice-making ability for the day. 

Studies have shown that many slim people eat at roughly the same times every day. Whether they are hungry or not. They just eat less if they aren't hungry. And more if they are. They also tend to eat roughly the same foods, over and over. Reading this I see two things: regularity, which can also be discipline, in this case, discipline, and making less choices. Whether consciously or not.

a few disciplines gives us more time

Having some disciplines, gives us more time to do other things. That's how we can fit in the things that matter to us. The important aspects of our lives have been dealt with. Done and dusted.

regularly doing the same things here and there, means less upkeep

Having a few regular disciplines means that we have less repairs and maintenance, or we could call it upkeep. Examples could be:

• we prepare meals for our family, rather than giving them takeaways or junk foods. In this way, we are maintaining their health
• by keeping our home or workplace fairly clean and tidy, we need to do less emergency cleaning
• having a small skin care routine means that we don't, at some stage of our life, look in the mirror and have a mini breakdown over the state of our skin
• having some exercise that we do regularly keeps us healthier, rather than having to go into panic-extreme-exercise mode

a bit of discipline makes our lives nicer

And less stressful. I don't have many disciplines, or routines, but I do have a few for my life. They suit me. And this I think, is an important key to discipline:

any disciplines, routines, should suit oneself and one's own life

The other aspects that I think matter, are:

not being too rigid with our routines, and not having too many

because Life is for Living. And enjoying, too