[First off, I wanted to show this picture because it's not the best picture.
My daughter walked around taking pictures of everyone last week, and it captured me in a moment of life.
Holding our dog back from running out the door as our small group friends were leaving.
Anyway, I like this picture in it's own unique, blurry, not staged, kind of way.
Now, for today's post!]
I haven't read this idea in a book yet.
I haven't heard this idea talked about too much yet.
But I have heard it mentioned by a business coach I had.
I have seen it--once--on an Instagram post too.
It's the Discipline of Peace.
Hard Things
I have dived deep into our culture's obsession with doing hard things.
I take ice baths (not as long as I used to) almost daily.
I fast from food every 3-4 months to reset my body's digestive system.
I push my mental and emotional and physical boundaries with exercises and routines.
I have completed a variant of the 75 Hard program twice.
I have completed 3 triathlons.
I have completed 2 half marathons.
I have survived a camping trip in over a foot of snow with temps that dipped to -16*F.
I have intentionally changed my lifestyle and diet to allow my body to heal from surgery and cancer.
I have done hard things!
The Shift
Yet I've been feeling and sensing a shift within me and within my family and my community.
It's a shift that doesn't want or need to have to do hard things all the time.
Things don't have to be hard all the time.
Here's what I mean by that.
It's a subtle shift in thinking.
A subtle shift in my approach to anything, and everything.
What if instead of doing a hard workout, I completed an energetic workout?
What if instead of working hard at my work, I worked with enthusiasm and an attitude of service?
What if instead of doing a hard diet, I fueled my body with optimal nutrition that I enjoyed eating?
Can you sense the subtle shift?
When everything is hard, it hardens us.
It hardens a bit of my soul every time I engage in the activity.
It hardens my spirit every time I approach a meal.
And when I'm hardened, I'm not as open to the leadings of the Spirit in my life.
I'm not as open to sensing the gentle nudges of God in my life.
Maybe there are appropriate times to do something hard, but could it be that simple change in the adjective would enhance the moment and also the next several?
Because each moment not only shapes us in that moment, but it shapes us for the next moments to come.
The Discipline of Peace
We are constantly being changed into something else, something more, or something less.
Which isn't always a bad thing.
But what if?
What if we let our imagination run with new possibilities of how to approach each thing?
What if we focused on this Discipline of Peace?
Because when I change the adjective away from 'hard' and to something more energetically descriptive, it fosters peace inside of me.
I bet it does the same inside of you too.
So, what could being disciplined in fostering peace look like for you?
Today.
Tomorrow.
This week.
This month.
How could it change the course of your life?
How could it change the energy of your days?
How could it change the inner calm and peace with which you do anything?
With which you do everything?
Focus on the Discipline of Peace and see what happens.
Related Content
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What does today require of you?
What does this week require of you?
What does this month require of you?
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The Clarity Question is this: What does this season require?
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