Prayer and Forgiveness

Obtaining self-discipline is one of the most difficult tasks for human beings. The human mind plays a large role in life and directs every action. If you, from the bottom of a humble heart, seek self-discipline, you must first learn the literal meaning of the word.
You may think that self-discipline is related to a certain diet, way of life, or habitus, as you struggle to promote this or that ideal way of doing things “right.” Often enough, the discipline that you seek to embody comes from everything other than the self—values that come from others, from surroundings, from society at large. You suppress your own needs, creating an illusion of discipline by doing or not doing this or that, whatever that may be.
These so-called forms of self-discipline are illusory.
Who else other than God knows your actual self? Too many people follow the ideas of others on what their own self consists of and how it should be disciplined. Confusion, vanity, and aimless endeavor follow.
To have this guidance directly from its source, we must go into silence and listen to the voice of divine truth within us. The point that connects the truth of God with the truth of each individual human being is the higher self—hence, self-discipline.
Only the guidance that we receive directly from God by our higher selves, through our hearts, can be labelled a discipline of the self and worthy of following.