Discipline & Dedication

to open it mid-session. So, for lack of a better word, the window's status in that moment was completely irrelevant. Realizing it was not relevant fueled both my discipline and dedication to keep my eyes closed with patience, mindful breathing, and a smile on my face. If I was to keep score, Restless Mind: 00. Me: 01. In choosing a title for this podcast episode, I was torn between "Dedication" and "Discipline," so I decided to go with both.

Dedication is a commitment to a chosen path, and Discipline is not only a branch of knowledge typically studied in higher education, though I don't think "higher" is necessarily limited to college or university, Discipline is also an experience that provides mental and physical training. Imagine a pendulum where on one extreme we are completely careless about something, and on the opposite end, we are fiercely engaged with it.

I think the middle ground between the two extremes is carefree, untroubled and relaxed. And this got me thinking: is the act of acknowledging that something is irrelevant, at least to us at any given moment, the key to the ever-elusive inner-peace at the middle point between negligence and concern? For those 30 minutes, for example, whether my window was open or shut was completely irrelevant.

The word "irrelevant" seems harsh and dismissive whenever I use it, but intentionally dismissing certain thoughts is the very skill we develop by strictly focusing on what's relevant. In Buddhism, that practice is called Discernment. In the real world, a cargo ship stuck in an Egyptian canal may be relevant to some, and it may even affect me somewhere down the line, but honestly, today, my feelings or opinions about it are completely irrelevant.

I don't mean to sound insensitive, but we have very limited bandwidth to only actively care about a certain number of issues at any given time. If we overload our minds with irrelevant information, we shut down.

Car engines overheat when they are pushed beyond their limits, the same thing happens to computers when they simultaneously run multiple programs, and when us humans try to process too much information about an overwhelming number of issues, many of which we can do nothing about, we experience what's called Compassion Fatigue, rendering ourselves unable to do anything about anything, so we feel "stuck."

From pressing issues like racism to endangered rhinos, the environment, or how my uncle treats his wife, the violence in Myanmar or mass shootings in our backyard, whether to buy local or organic produce when we can only do one or the other, immigration, election, and let's not forget our own health and meditation. It's no surprise we often feel overwhelmed and ill-equipped to do anything about it all, but that's just it: we CAN'T do it all, nor is anyone expecting us to do it all.

What we can do, however, is one thing at a time, like sitting when it's time to sit. If you are thinking all of this sounds a lot like the Serenity Prayer, that's because the prayer's last line is exactly what I'm talking about: Accepting things we cannot change, having the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

I'm tempted to go as far as to say that knowing the difference might just be the key to a profoundly serene life; the only place from which rational decisions can be made as opposed to irrational reactions.

When I think about the discipline and dedication it took to keep my eyes closed during meditation, it's a tiny example of a much larger muscle group that we can strengthen through exercise; a "six-pack" of sorts consisting of Commitment, Dedication, Discipline, Discernment, Mindfulness, and Awareness. Imagine the possibilities if we build those muscles through repetition.

At our monthly discussion group about this topic last week, one woman said she made a shopping list before going to the grocery store for the first time in her life as a way to practice discipline and only get what's on the list despite being tempted to impulse buy a whole lot more. She said the incredible feeling she got from winning this small battle was better than the fleeting instant gratification she would have gotten from putting more stuff in her cart.

That's why when people ask me about breaking their existing habits, I always suggest starting small by putting on the left shoe before the right, for example, which is a habit we don't even realize we have. Raised awareness is not only the first step, it needs to be in every step. There's a reason Buddhism's called a practice. You know those robot vacuum cleaners that automatically move around the floor to clean up when you're not around?

It's when they sit in the corner, seemingly doing nothing at all, that they are actually doing what meditation can do for all of us: they are recharging. After all, what we do on our meditation cushion is just as important as what we do off of it. We think happiness will result from accumulating one instant gratification after another, but each gratifying moment is so brief, we spend more time chasing happiness than being happy.

During my morning meditation, I really thought the only way to put my mind at ease was to open my eyes so I can give my mind the very information it so desperately wanted, but we all know that as soon as I would give it that piece of information, it would just ask for more. And that's when it dawned on me that there IS another way to put the mind at ease, another method to remaining calm and collected, reasonable, and sane,

and it's by letting go of the need to know. It sounds so simple, but it's revolutionary. Again, start with small matters, like whether the window is open or closed, and then work your way outward, always using the relevance discernment filter.

I might motivate you with these podcast episodes to get that six-pack of commitment, dedication, and so on, but the effort and the discipline has to come from you. Discipline is what kept me from opening my eyes during meditation, and discipline is what kept you listening to this episode all the way through. 00. All of us: 03. If you find value in these podcast episodes, please show your support with as little as one dollar a month through Patreon.com/BuddhistBootCamp

Because without you, there would be no us. Thank you. Timber Hawkeye is the bestselling author of Faithfully Religionless and Buddhist Boot Camp. For additional information, please visit BuddhistBootCamp.com, where you can order autographed books to support the Prison Library Project, watch Timber's inspiring TED Talk, and join our monthly mailing list. We hope you have enjoyed this episode, and invite you to subscribe for more thought-provoking discussions.

Thank you for being a Soldier of Peace in the Army of Love. 🙏