Daily Reflections for Living Strong

Discipline equates with punishment only when it must imposed on you by someone or something else. When you make the effort to discipline yourself, it is not punishment. It is power. It is effectiveness. It is freedom.

Self discipline opens up a world of choices and opportunities which would not otherwise be available to you. At its most basic, self discipline is the practice of taking actions which are in your own best interest, of following the course you have set for yourself. That is certainly not punishment. In fact, it is extremely rewarding.

It is an effort to stay disciplined. The world is overflowing with distractions which continue to grow in number and persuasiveness. In the space of each moment, you must refresh and renew your commitment to staying on track. That’s why it is so important that your goals closely match your most treasured desires.

Discipline will produce luscious fruit. Point yourself in a direction from which you cannot be deterred, and the fruit of discipline will be yours.

Strength Of Will

Hi everyone this is Peter Liciaga with your black belt strong morning brief

It takes more than hope to make things happen. Still, hope is a good and powerful thing.

Being hopeful will not magically bring whatever you hope for. Yet it is infinitely better than being hopeless.

If you let it, hope will inspire you to action. When you persist in the hope and persist in the doing, you’ll find that your hope was well founded and helpful.

Hope is not something that must depend on outside conditions, so you can choose hope no matter what is going on. You can always choose hope because you can always choose what to do with it.

Let your hope give you a little bit of comfort and reassurance. But more than that, let it challenge you and inspire you to do the difficult work that brings what you hope into reality.

Hope for the best, then transform that hope into a vision with a solid, practical path for moving forward. Put your hope into action, and create a reality above and beyond the best you could hope for.

When there is much to be done, it can be tempting to try and work on it all at once. Yet rarely is anything ever gained by taking that approach.

The most effective effort is focused effort. Do one thing and do it well, with total focus, until the job is done. Let go of your thoughts and worries about what comes next. Give your attention to the task at hand.

Jumping back and forth from one thing to another can waste much of your time and seriously dilute your momentum. The more there is to be done, the more important it becomes to solidly focus your efforts.

Hurried and scattered actions will rarely get you there any faster. Be patient, stay focused on one task at a time, and you’ll make the most progress.

Give your efforts the power of focus and momentum. And watch them bring spectacular results.

When you’re in a position to complain about anything, you’re also in a position to do something positive about it. And that’s a whole lot more effective than complaining.

If you have a good reason to be angry, you also have a good reason to point the energy of that anger in a positive direction. By doing so, you’ll create new value for all concerned.

Whenever something is frustrating you, you’re highly motivated to find a way to move beyond it. Harness the energy of that frustration to improve the situation or to grow yourself beyond it.

Any time you experience disappointment, you’ve learned a valuable lesson. From there you can go forward, and make that disappointment into a positive turning point.

Every day, life comes your way, and it’s difficult to predict or control exactly what lands on your doorstep. Yet no matter what you get, you always have the choice of what to do with it.

You’ve made great, empowering choices in the past and you can continue to do so, day after day. With gratitude in your heart, keep going on the positive path you’ve chosen.

Hi everyone this is Peter Liciaga with your black belt strong morning brief

Hi everyone this is Peter Liciaga with your black belt strong morning brief

If you’re weary, it may not be from what you’re doing. Your weariness could be caused by what you continue to put off doing.

Having an uncompleted task hanging over you, day after day, week after week, wears on you constantly. To free yourself from that burden, go ahead and get it finished.

Instead of putting your energy into worry and avoidance and procrastination, put your energy into getting the job done. The way to have more energy is to make productive use of the energy you have.

This day will soon come to an end, no matter what you do. You have the choice of feeling satisfied with all you’ve accomplished, or disappointed that another day has passed without anything to show for it.

Choose to make good and valuable use of the time you now have. Decide to free yourself from the burden of what needs to be done by actually getting it done.

Imagine the satisfaction you’ll feel, and imagine the new options you’ll have. Now get busy and enjoy making it happen.

We are teaching our students at Dinoto Karate Center How Admitting Your Mistakes Is the Best Thing You Can Do

It happens to all of us…we are going to make mistakes… What do you do when you make a mistake? What are you teaching your children?

Here are four things you can do to own your mistakes and come out looking like a hero.

1. Own it.

Take responsibility for whatever you did and understand the possible impact. If you don’t show your mistake, how will it get corrected? Of course, you’d rather figure it out on your own, but no one is right all the time. So, give yourself permission to be wrong, and don’t defend yourself in hindsight. Defensiveness is your number one enemy.

2. Be proactive about solutions.

How did the mistake happen? Pinpoint where you went wrong. Then ask yourself what you can do to fix the problem. Can you fix it on your own or do you need someone’s help? Don’t try to sweep it under the rug–that could backfire. Who should you tell? A co-worker, family member, friend?

3. Communicate the mistake to those affected or to those who can help.

Learn to communicate in ways that appeal to people’s humanity. Show your human side and be sincere. Show that you care to fix it. Be honest about your struggles and let others surprise you with their empathy and good will.

4. Trust people to help you.

Taking responsibility means sacrificing your pride, not pumping your ego. It also means showing trust in people to help you. What if everyone you knew owned up to their mistakes and wanted to fix what they had done? “Imagine if [people] could trust everyone else to have their back when things don’t go according to plan,”

This would be a beautiful thing…Yes?

Taking action is not as difficult as you imagine it to be. Get up now and get it done.

The comfort and ease of doing nothing are highly overrated, especially in the long run. Life is here, life is miraculously yours, so live it.

Live life fully by taking an active role in it. Feel your purpose, feel your desire, feel your dreams and follow them with all you have.

Make a commitment, voice your opinion, use your skills and put real, active substance into this day. Step forward, put forth the effort, follow through and contribute your own brand of richness to this beautiful world.

The possibilities are all around you. Great new value is begging to be created, and you’re in the fortunate position of being able to answer the call.

Remind yourself how effective you can be and then put that effectiveness to good use. Get up, get going and give your best to this great day.

Music by CJ Liciaga Beats