Listen to “The Art of Body and Mind Discipline”.
Most people think of self-discipline in terms of willpower. However, there’s a better way to build long-lasting and more solid self-discipline in your life.
Seeing self-discipline in terms of pure willpower fails because beating ourselves up for not trying hard enough doesn’t work. It does the opposite and instead breaks you down.
Our behaviours are not based on logic or ideas. Instead, our feelings are what determine how we act. We do what feels good and avoid what feels bad. Therefore, any emotionally healthy approach to self-discipline must work with your emotions, rather than against them.
There is no reason to punish yourself. On the contrary, when you like yourself, you naturally want to take care of yourself. More importantly, it feels good to take care of yourself. This is the real goal of feeling good about yourself, your body, your life. Self-discipline is a form of self-love.
A disciplined, healthy lifestyle is beneficial to maintaining your mental health. If you focus on keeping your body healthy, your mind will reap the rewards.
Here are some areas to focus on to keep your mind and body healthier and happier:
Sleep
Many of us continue to live by the remarkably durable myth that sleeping one hour less will give us one hour more of productivity. In reality, research suggests that even small amounts of sleep deprivation can take a significant toll on our health, mood, cognitive capacity, and productivity.
Modern societies have stigmatised sleep with the label of laziness. We want to seem busy, and one way we express that is by proclaiming how little sleep we’re getting. However, sleep is a necessity, not a luxury, and we need between 7-9 hours of sleep to feel alive.
To help you get a better night’s sleep, you should turn off all of your electronic devices one hour before going to bed. This will allow your mind to disconnect and settle down. Try to make it into a ritual, and you’ll soon see the benefits.
Stress management
Despite the multiple stressors that may exist in our lives, we need to make time for ourselves.
We should try to enjoy each moment in itself, to make our lives more positive and fulfilling.
Try changing the situations which cause you stress and take the time to learn some relaxation methods to cope with stress. These could include deep breathing, meditation, yoga or other practices you find relaxing.
Meditation is something you can do anywhere, anytime. As little as 10-15 minutes of meditation per day can be enough to destress and improve your mood.
Exercise
Regular physical exercise is beneficial in alleviating anxiety, as it helps in the regulation of serotonin.
How much exercise do I need?
Don’t push yourself too hard at first; take it one step at a time. About two hours of exercise each week has profound benefits for your mental and physical health. However, it’s important not to overexert yourself. Go at your own pace and do as much as you feel comfortable with. Set yourself realistic goals to keep yourself motivated and don’t wear yourself out. Exercise should be a maintainable habit and not one which leaves you feeling drained.
Nutrition
Healthy eating doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Eating real food is all about eating foods in their most natural form as much as possible. It also means avoiding processed foods as much as possible.
Making the conscious decision to remove processed food from your diet and basing your meals on natural foods will allow you to lead a healthier and happier lifestyle.
The first step towards maintaining a healthy weight is to forget about the diet and lose the diet mindset. Instead, think about a ‘healthy eating program’ based on self-love and self-care, that you could live with and enjoy for the rest of your life.
