Some advice that helps me out (Where do I post this?)

Hi guys, since I am new here, I'd like
to contribute a bit.

This post is mostly about discipline,
but I will talk about other things as well. I read this in
“Meditation for dummies” by Stephan Bodian. I will put this into
my own words so I don't break the copy right law.

Discipline grabs you by the neck and
takes you to the task time after time, even when you are reluctant.
Effort keeps you focused on the task, bringing your mind back when it
starts to wander off. Letting go makes you less tense, more relaxed
and keeps your mind open to whatever you are observing, encountering,
or undergoing (experiencing) regardless of how difficult or
challenging the task may be.

Discipline means: Over and over again.

We already have self-discipline, but we
forget, or are not aware of it. For example: We need Self-discipline
to created a user account for this Great forum, make ourselves a
meal, get to our job, wake up in the morning, pay bills and many
other things that we do. We just have to work on applying
Self-discipline to what ever task is most urgent or important to us.

... Self-discipline is nothing but
having the ability to do something again and again.

There are three important parts to S.D.
: Commitment, Consistency and Self-restraint.

Commitment can be looked at as the
foundation for a task. Without it you will most likely avoid the task
when you are bored, tired, rather do something else or don't have the
will.

To make a commitment you should have
motivation. You must see how the task will benefit you and have
personal reasons to continue.

Consistency

I will take an example from my own
life. I need consistency for my push ups. When I do them every other
day I build the muscles which makes it easier to keep on going. If I
had done them only once a month, I would see no result, feel week and
have a difficult time doing them again.

Consistency builds a sertant muscle or
experience when we do the task again and again.

So keep it up, what ever that you are
doing, no matter how you feel from time to time. Our feelings are a
wall to our work/progress sometimes (Ignore them and push on
through!!).

Be careful of : laziness and
self-indulgence. You know those “I'd rather be...” thoughts.

And Perfectionism: “I am not ready
because I am not tough/smart/good/(etc) enough for the task”.

Self-Restraint

Is knowing when to say “No” to our
desires. Being able to distinguish an act that will help us out and
one that will set us back, or harm us. What feels good at the moment
may not be so great in the long run. An example of this would be
eating cake more than we should. Feels good when we are eating it, but not so much when we see that we've gained weight which is harder to drop then eating cake.

Effort

Quality of energy that you put into the
task itself. Although it might take discipline for me to walk outside
and warm up before I get into push up position, it will take effort
to actually do them.

I will add the rest tomorrow. As you can see I am not the best interpreter/writer ::sick::