Help
With Your Rule
But I Don't Want To...
"When you think of the word discipline, what comes to mind? For many it is an overdemanding teacher or a controlling parent. Try to set aside that notion of discipline and think of the discipline an athlete freely chooses to bring the best out of himself or herself...
"The problem is that we don't want discipline. We want someone to tell us that we can be happy without discipline. But we can't. In fact, if you want to measure the level of happiness in your life, measure the level of discipline in your life. The two are directly related.
"Think about it. Americans spend $30 billion [each] year on diet products. The only diet most of us need is a little bit of discipline. But we don't want discipline... We want someone to get on television and tell us if we take this little pill twice a day we can eat whatever we want, whenever we want, and as much as we want, and still look like supermodels. It is another of the great myths of our modern popular culture, the idea that we can be happy without discipline. It's a lie, it's a myth, it's an illusion, and somewhere deep inside, we know that."
Matthew Kelly in "The Seven Levels of Intimacy", A Fireside Book, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2005, pp60, 62-63.
posted by Holly at 1:22 PM 3 comments
