Self discipline is a man’s religion.

Growing up with a single mother, I was lost in a sea of permissiveness. She would buy me all the junk food I wanted and allowed me to play as much video games as I wanted. Sound like a child’s paradise? In the moment it is but later in life is when this lack of discipline creates a spirit of difficulty. All the countless hours of abandonment to pleasure is a lie that will soon be shattered by the heavy responsibility of adulthood.

And that shattering will make a man look back at the neglect as poison to his soul. No child should be forgotten to fantasy. But I do not blame my mother for my undisciplined upbringing. A mother is overwhelmed by her own reality and will attempt to comfort her children best she can. Discipline is passed down by the father and the fatherless are separated from that loving direction.

What would a father say to a young boy?

Loving father: “Stand up straight, shoulders back and be proud”

Mother: “My boy must have been born with a slumped back”

Loving father: “Put down the video game controller and come help me work”

Mother: “Better for him to play video games than play with those bad kids across the street”

A father demands more from a boy because a father knows that reality will demand much from the boy later in his life. Discipline is love with a long view towards life. Without discipline a man’s mind boy and environment will decay and fall apart. This neglected state will set a man back behind other men who were disciplined as children. These disciplined men had been prepared for the race of life while the undisciplined child is left back at the starting line with a bag of Cheetos on his lap.

Parents who choose affection over discipline create a body of suffering in their children.

The world respects and rewards discipline.

When a fatherless boy grows up without discipline, he is groomed for failure. He must overcome the attitude of neglect and summon the power from within to discipline himself. Many feminized men will protect their inaction and ego by speaking of their victimhood. They will say “Why try when the system is against me?” These feminized men carry with them the woman’s victim complex that prevents their own positive action.

There are two paths in life. One path is paved with short term pleasure and long term pain. The second path is paved with short term pain and long term pleasure. To discipline the self is to have a long view of pleasure. It is true self love.

When a man is undisciplined, he needs to think about his own motivation for change. He needs to think about why he depends on the weak willed comforts that he indulges in. Ask why.

Angel on the shoulder : “Why do I eat junk food?”

Devil on the shoulder: “Because it tastes good and life is hard”

Angel on the shoulder : “It is poison and will make life harder for us eventually”

Devil on the shoulder: “That is tomorrow and we do not think of that day”

Angel on the shoulder : “Tomorrow will come and we will be unprepared for it”

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This conversion could be applied to any discipline or lack of discipline. It is a conversation about today and tomorrow. To live without discipine is to live for the day. It is a spirit of disbelief and self hatred. To live for tomorrow is a spirit of belief and self love. We are not Kamikazes of daily destruction. We guide the ship of our selves across the long ocean trek of our lives. To think of the future is to discipline the present. We whip ourselves into shape because we see the challenge on the horizon. We know strength of being will cut through the storms of uncertainty and will prevent our life from being overturned from calamity.

Listen to the father.

We make ourselves stronger to weaken our environment. We do not ignore difficulty but rather face it head on. We look at the abyss of pleasure and turn away. We measure out reward in small doses.

MEASUREMENT IS THE KEY TO DISCIPLINE.

A man should measure out portions of pleasure and measure out discipline to his spirit daily.

Start small.

If a man indulges a certain amount daily, he should start to limit it down in exact measurement. Play two hours of video games a day? Cut it down to one hour. Watch four hours of TV? Cut it down to two hours. Eat five sugar snacks a day? Cut it down to two. Start limiting pleasure and start serving yourself out discipline. Hard time reading? Read two pages of a book a day. Physically lazy? Do one pushup a day.

Be consistent with discipline and keep track of yourself. Increase discipline and decrease reward. The spirit will grow stronger in self love and will reward you with a contented being.

Pick up, carry and pass frame.