Sifu Jason King’s Blog - Chinese Martial Arts 2009

SELF-DISCIPLINE

Discipline means order. Self-discipline means self-order. With self-order you bring order into your life. You decide what order you would like in your life and then you work towards achieving it. Without self-discipline your life can float along without meaning and purpose. You then risk feeling depressed and apathetic or chaotic and pressured. There are still times for being carefree and you still need to be flexible and open to change; the difference is that with self-discipline you take control of your destiny.

Practise self-discipline to take charge of your life. Decide what direction your taking and set about doing the work to make sure it happens. Decide what to do with your emotions. Think before you act. Sometimes emotions are so strong they cloud our judgement.

Practise self-discipline by thinking about what you want to do. Create a plan to do it. Break your goal down into smaller goals and give yourself realistic timeframes to do them in. Follow a routine to allow it to happen. Then don’t give up. After a while your routine will become second nature and your plan will be underway. You will end up with more confidence knowing you can achieve what you set your mind to. This will lead to greater freedom and taking charge of your destiny.

To sum up:

- don’t procrastinate

- make a step by step plan to

follow

-when making decisions detach

or consider emotions

- get things done on time.

I choose to live by choice, not by chance.

I choose to make changes, not excuses.

I choose to be motivated, not manipulated.

I choose to be useful, not used.

I choose self-esteem, not pity.

I choose to listen to my inner voice,

not the random opinions of crowds.

Alexandra Starr

Just thought I’d share a maxim that I try to live by. It sits on the wall above my desk!

CONFIDENCE is being certain and feeling sure. Confidence in someone else comes from trusting that person. Confidence in yourself comes from trusting yourself. When you are confident in yourself, you can do things without self doubt holding you back. Being self confident means you know your own strengths and weaknesses, and yet you still believe in yourself.

By practising confidence you are willing to try new things knowing that you will learn even if you make mistakes. Being confident means believing in yourself even if nobody else does.

You don’t have to wait until you know something before feeling confident. You can feel confident first, and then know that you will always get better and better at something. Feeling confident in your abilities opens up every opportunity for you. It means being able to step into the unknown. It means achieving your goals and being successful. Being self confident is the first step to a happy and successful life.

Try new things and feel good about it. Be gentle with yourself. Understand that you are here to learn and making mistakes is a natural process of learning. Understand your strengths and weaknesses but rather than using them to hold you back, use them to push yourself forward.

Scientific research has shown that a person who doesn’t appear confident is far more likely to be the victim of an assault than someone showing strength and purpose. So if you’re bullied or walked over at school or work, or don’t feel safe walking down the street at night, you can reduce the chance of victimisation by appearing to be confident. Walk with a purpose, your shoulders back, head held high.

The exciting thing is, if your physical body at least looks confident, you can ‘trick’ your brain into believing it is confident because the brain associates that positive body language with a strength of mind. I have used this tool constantly as a teacher , competitor and performer and can vouch for it working!!

As Anthony Fernando said this week, it’s hard to write something inspirational in the wake of something so terrible. Over 200 lives lost and incredible devastation. Amongst the many, many options of donations etc., I liked the following one where people have the option of helping in many different ways. If everyone does a little bit, the results will be tremendous so see what you can do to help.

Our Community has packaged up in one place all the various ways people can help out and give to people affected by the Victorian bushfires through our Giving Centre - which is proudly supported by our alliance partner Westpac Bank.

The page describes where to:

• Donate Money (Online, at Banks & Australia Post Offices);
• Donate Time;
• Donate Blood;
• Donate Clothes or Furniture;
• Donate Blankets;
• Help Animals;
• and more.

The page is at www.ourcommunity.com.au/bushfirehelp

This is a one-stop-shop to help out individuals and workplaces who want to contribute to the emergency and recovery efforts. Please feel free to place the link on your own websites etc and spread the word. If you would like an image for your own page you can find some downloadable images here: www.ourcommunity.com.au/bushfirehelpimages

Best regards,

The Our Community Team