Hello everyone,
Welcome to another video on the Soul Vitamins community.
And in this one I wanted to speak to you about this quote that I read recently.
And I think I read it a couple of times over my lifetime.
I truly really understand what it means now.
It took me a while to understand the meaning of this quote because I think you really have to experience it and work with it and play around with it and play around with the extreme opposite of it to understand what it really means.
And the quote is,
Freedom comes from discipline.
And it's kind of interesting because a lot of us end up thinking that if I am disciplined it means I have no more freedom.
If I want to be independent and free then I just want to do whatever I want with my day.
If I am completely undisciplined,
Have no schedule at all,
Just go about my day as if I am a completely free human being with no encumberments.
And I've noticed this for myself as well.
When I went to my first semi-retirement,
When I first saved up a bit of money,
Quit my job and then just traveled around for 9 or 10 months.
That's when I first noticed this because what happened is that when I was working I had so many encumberments on me.
I was filled with routines and schedules and I would sit there all day long in my workplace and think I can't wait to get out of here.
I can't wait to stop working so I can just be free and then I can truly be free.
I dreamt and dreamt about it.
Finally,
I quit my job and I was able to go traveling.
I had no real schedule.
I could just do whatever I wanted with my days.
I did a lot of reading and I did a lot of moving around from one place to another,
Hanging out with people.
But a lot of my days were completely not wasteful but really just empty,
Devoid of meaning really.
At that other extreme,
I truly realized at that point that I never want to be completely tired where I do nothing with my days and I just sit around on a beach,
Sipping mojitos.
Not that I drink anyways.
But you know what I mean.
There's this ideal,
There's this vision that people have of freedom and you're on an island somewhere on a beach,
Beautiful gorgeous beach,
Perhaps with a beautiful companion next to you,
Handsome,
Beautiful companion,
Whatever your preference.
And you're sipping a delicious drink,
A cocktail perhaps,
Alcoholic or non-alcoholic and you have no schedule,
You don't have anywhere to go.
You're just going to sit there all day long on the beach,
By the ocean,
Under the sun and you have nothing to do.
Nothing calling you,
Nothing on your schedule and then you'll do that for a few hours,
You'll eat a little bit,
You'll do that again for a few hours and then fall asleep and that's life.
And then a lot of people think that's freedom.
In fact it's not.
You know you could do it perhaps for four days,
Five days,
Three weeks,
Three months even perhaps.
Not for me it wasn't possible even to do it for a few months,
For a few days even.
But people can do it for a few months but after that it just feels like okay,
Alright,
It feels like you're just waiting to die.
I know it seems a little bit dire but it really feels like that to me and I'm like is this it?
Am I,
This is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life?
I don't think so.
Not that I'm saying that I want to be so scheduled in and so stifled and have so many things to do that I never have a chance to breathe.
That's not what I'm saying either.
It doesn't have to be those two extremes unlike what people think.
So you can have the middle ground and this is what I'm saying is that freedom really truly becomes discipline because it really comes from discipline because the more you make sure that all of your life is kind of set up in a good way,
You're financially disciplined so you don't spend money on nonsensical things and then you put money away for your future self and then you have enough investments that you can retire at the age that you want without having to work for a company that you don't want.
That's freedom.
Being able to put a schedule in for your spiritual practice so you practice every single day and you see the results of your spiritual practice,
You become closer to God or to that entity that you want to or to yourself and that's freedom.
You feel free from that.
You go exercise every single day at a certain schedule depending on,
Not depending on your mood but depending on the fact that you are doing legs today or arms today or you're going to do aerobics today,
Whatever your schedule is.
You go every day and you become extremely fit and improve your health and that's freedom because now you're free to be mobile for the rest of your life.
You're free to not worry about your health for the rest of your life.
You don't have to be shackled by your body anymore.
If you really think about it,
You can kind of bring it down every single time if you think about freedom in that manner or when you start thinking about it.
It really comes down to discipline and yeah you're thinking,
You might think to yourself that you want to be free and not do anything.
As I said you'll do it for a few days,
A few months,
A few weeks maybe and then it's going to be too much and then you're going to be like okay well I need to do something.
I need to do something else.
I need to feel alive again.
I want to produce again.
I want to contribute again.
A story comes to my mind,
Last year I was sitting with a friend of mine,
A new friend that I just met.
I had just come to Bali,
It was May,
Around May,
End of May and I just met a new friend and I was sitting with her and we were chatting and she was telling me about this friend of hers who committed suicide recently.
Interestingly enough it was a person that I had heard of before because she used to live in Copañan where I lived before when I was working for this resort and she was very well known because she was a bright,
Exuberant,
Bubbly person.
She was beautiful,
She was smart,
She was just the life of the party,
Amazing human being.
A lot of people on Copañan,
The people I knew there right now were also at that point were also mourning her because they realized that she had committed suicide.
And when I spoke to my friend about it,
I was like wow,
I can't believe I've heard so many good things about her.
I can't believe that she would do that because it seemed like she was living such a full life.
And then the truth of the matter was that she had everything.
She was financially free,
She didn't have to work but her husband had divorced her and her children were old enough that she didn't have to take care of them.
She didn't have to work for money so she didn't do anything with her days except go to yoga and go party,
Do drugs.
And she realized after a while that it was incomplete and ineffectual and empty.
And from that emptiness,
She decided to commit suicide.
I mean of course she was desperate and it would have been much better if she perhaps found a purpose to take care of all the dogs in Bali because a lot of them need help.
But she decided it wasn't for her,
She just wanted to leave the planet which is of course her choice.
But this is what happens.
A lot of people think when they are completely scheduled in and trapped that if they could just get rid of everything that they are doing that they'd be free.
But truly not actually.
It truly is about making sure that you have the right things on your plate and you're doing them in the right time.
Not actually taking time off for yourself and taking care of yourself but not completely taking everything off your schedule and just sitting around doing nothing.
That's not the ideal either and I can't imagine even if I ever retired,
Had enough money to not work ever again,
That I would ever stop working.
I can't imagine not doing the things that I do.
I would still do the videos I do.
I would still write.
Maybe I would take a couple of things off my plate perhaps but I can't imagine just having zero things on my schedule and just sitting around waiting for what.
I really don't understand how anyone could live like that or anyone would want to live like that because the purpose of being human is to be human,
To do things.
Not to all the time do things but to be around,
Moving around,
Producing or contributing or helping or making an impact,
Volunteering even.
It doesn't necessarily always have to be for monetary purposes but for something which makes you feel like you're a part of something bigger and that you're giving back in a way.
Especially if you've been lucky enough to retire and have enough money to do whatever you want then more so I feel irresponsibly comes to say,
Okay,
How can I give back?
How can I do something amazing for this world?
How can I give what I have received?
All the bounty and abundance that I have in my life,
How can I give back?
So I'm not just taking,
I'm giving back as well.
So I really think that this quote,
Freedom comes from discipline,
Really resonates with me and actually I think I live my life by it.
My life is very disciplined,
I shouldn't say very disciplined,
It is very scheduled and I have a lot of disciplines in it.
Sometimes I follow them,
Most times I follow them,
Sometimes I don't but most times I do and I do notice the days that I am able to follow my disciplines and the schedule that I have and don't get lazy or procrastinate are the days that I feel most fulfilled,
That I feel like I have contributed,
That I feel like it wasn't a complete waste.
And perhaps it's the same for you,
I would love to hear if you have some comments,
Please let me know what freedom,
Equaling,
Discipline means to you and again thank you so much for listening and I shall see you the next time around.
Byee.
